Phantom Chaos
by Zoram Selrof
Summary: Sequel to Anti Shooting Star. Autumn has kicked into Kodama Town: it appealed as a quiet autumn until Hyde decides to get in the move and bring out two dangerous villains who have their very own sinister plans involving Subaru & Misora. As if dealing with their combined tactics wasn't exasperating enough, someone far more dangerous gets into the move as well. Rated M for lemon.
1. Chapter 1: Cherry autumn

**Phantom Chaos**

**By Zoram Selrof**

**Chapter 1: Cherry autumn**

17:17 PM (Japan Time), Thursday November the 1st, 2206…

"… Phew. Classes are over… We already went through the October exams but soon we'll need to start preparing the December ones… You can't lower the guard!"

"True, Subaru – kun. Let's hope all bows to Kizamaro's First Law of Logic."

"W-what? What's that? Can ya eat that?"

"FATMAN! GOTCHA!"

"YIKES! _I-iinchou_! I'm sorry~!"

"Not again… Tsukasa – kun, we need to get to the shelter."

"If there's one, Gino – kun."

"Man."

"I know, Jack, I know. The madness is coming."

The 2- A Class students began to wrap up their day and to prepare to leave: Hoshikawa Subaru, aged 14, was talking in a general manner to address everyone: Saishouin Kizamaro adjusted his glasses and grinned: Ushijima Gonta frowned and looked like he didn't know what Kizamaro was talking about: Shirogane Luna got a fit of bad mood and Gonta gasped in fear: another student groaned as he looked at Futaba Tsukasa, who sighed in defeat: Jack also complained.

"O-oi! Kiboyama, man! Didn't ya tell me spaghetti were good?"

"I never did, Ushijima – kun. And too much spaghetti isn't good for you, anyway."

Kiboyama Gino was a student who had bluish eyes and brownish hair: he seemed to be one or two inches taller than Tsukasa.

"FATMAN! I'M ABOUT TO EXPLODE~!" Luna threatened.

"Wha~h! Spare me, _iinchou_~!" He pleaded.

"Let's get to the shelter." Subaru hushed to the others.

They rushed out of the classroom, down the corridor plus the stairs: they crossed the lobby and exited into the front yard: they sighed in relief as they walked across it.

"Mwah, wah, wah, wah! Oxus Bullus Malignus lost to Warus Rockus Samus Benignus!"

"War Rock. Quit fooling around. What have you destroyed today?"

"Who knows, Subari~? Maybe your evil twin's chimney?"

"What "evil twin"? Stop trolling."

"Buruo~! You pulled an ambush of Water Denpa Viruses on me~! You fanged rascal!"

"You horned bully~!"

"Say that again, you!"

War Rock materialized in front of Subaru while grinning but Subaru replied with skepticism and rising annoyance: Ox showed up next and he was pretty much annoyed by now: they began to yell at each other.

"Pedia! Did you patent Kizamaro's First Law of Battles?"

"Please, Kizamaro – kun… Aren't you getting self-centered?" Pedia sighed from inside the Hunter – VG.

"Miles will blow you 100 Miles away!" War Rock laughed.

"Stop with that silly pun once and for all." A voice growled from Kiboyama's Hunter – VG.

The Wizard inside of it materialized: his main body was more "humanoid" in shape and colored in a brownish color similar to sand: some patterns had been drawn over the body to form plates of armor.

His helmet had been painted sea blue and black shades hid his eyes yet it looked strong and resistant.

His arms were colored in a reddish color with white color stripes running up and down their length: the forearms had extra armor on them and his hands' "skin" was black.

He carried a round golden shield with a silver edge and center on his left hand which was large enough to protect half of his body.

Like a Roman Legionary, he wielded a large lance with a brown body and silver spear set atop it: the weapon looked easy to maneuver and powerful at the same time.

He also had a hover engine built onto the lower part of his body which allowed him to remain air-bone.

"Storm will storm Fatman's fridge!"

"Why should I? The pun's lame, anyway." Another Wizard complained from Tsukasa's Hunter – VG.

This new Wizard looked reminiscent of Gemini, the FM who'd picked Tsukasa as a host over two years ago.

His main body was shaped like a spheroid and colored in a patch of green identical to Tsukasa's hair.

His head was round and perfectly shaped: a white-like helmet protected it and included a pair of purple-colored thick shades: his skin was normal-colored and his face looked young.

Two sharp needle-like tools emerged from his armored and purple-colored forearms and replaced his normal hands.

The rest of the arms were painted with the black and yellow striping to signal "danger" as if hinting at the usage of the appendixes.

Like most modern Wizards, he had a hover device built into the inferior part of his body instead of legs which had been colored in the same black and yellow stripes combination.

"Jackie~! Seize your golden chance~!"

"Shut the hell up." Jack grumbled.

"…73 carrots, 56 apples, 48 pears…!"

"Y-yeah, _iinchou_…!"

"Huff."

Gonta walked out while being still scolded by Luna: Mode, her Wizard, was hovering next to her and looked exasperated.

"Anyway. Let's scram." Subaru suggested.

"And ram into mail-boxes!" War Rock laughed.

"HMPF!" Ox fumed and folded his arms.

"I'm off to WAXA. I want to figure out what neechan's been up to: nothing good, I can see it coming." Jack rolled his eyes.

"Have you tried to talk some sense into her?" Subaru asked in a hushed tone.

"Believe me. I tried. But she always shrugged me off and pretended I wasn't there to begin with." He sighed in defeat.

"Man. We need to keep an eye on her."

"Totally."

"…boiled beans, lentils, peas…!" Luna was still listing Gonta what seemingly was a vegetarian diet.

"No more~!" He pleaded.

"Mwah, hah, hah. Moon Ace placed a curse on the guy."

"You mean Moon Disaster. That joke's pointless."

"Stainless!"

"Yeah, yeah. Sure, sure. Just go beat Shinobi's Black Hole Server record once and for all." Subaru tried to shoo him away.

"Mwah, hah, hah. OK, Subari~!"

"See you tomorrow!"

"…tomatoes, lettuce, olives, radishes…!" Luna kept on listing as she stood in the midst of the yard apparently oblivious to her surroundings.

"O~h! _Iinchou_! It's Ramen Gamen!" Gonta signaled behind her.

"No way! The soap opera hero~? Where~?"

She whipped around and Gonta used the chance to run off as Luna rushed towards a girl student younger than her.

"Where is he?"

"Where is…? Who?" The student asked back.

"Ramen Gamen!"

"In the TV, but of course."

"No! He's got to be here!"

"Ahem… Your classmate ran off."

"WHAT! FATMAN! YOU SNEAKY FATS AND CALORIES CLUSTER! CHA WON'T GET AWAY SO EASILY~!"

Luna ran off and Subaru sighed as glanced at it while he headed towards his home.

"They're matter and anti-matter: they need to annihilate each other the whole time." He grimly muttered.

"FOUND CHA~!"

"WHA~H! SOMEONE SAVE ME~!"

"Luna – chan, what about…?" Mode could be heard asking.

"Be quiet, Mode! Reputation and whatever! I've got a score to settle with this Fatman!"

_Why does this town need to go mad the WHOLE TIME? JEEZ!_

17:49 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Shidou."

"What."

"Mail. From Yoiri – hakase."

"Green hi-energy tea?"

"No. Loosening Agony."

"What the heck is THAT?"

"Apparently… A pop music band of the 2160s."

"Pop music? Sounds like hardcore rock 'n roll to me."

"Not my problem."

"I knew it. Man."

"Oi, Akatsuki. Jack's here."

"OK. Let him in, as usual, Ryuusuke."

"Sure."

Akatsuki Shidou had been going over some report over his desk in the Satella Police HQ when Acid announced an incoming mail: Shidou rolled his eyes as if he could foresee the contents but when Acid listed them he looked totally bluffed and taken aback: he then sighed and rolled his eyes while Acid seemed to shrug: a Commando came in to report and he simply nodded in approval.

"So? What's the latest sneaky loophole neechan has come up with?"

"Straight to the point, huh? Well. She's been visiting a women-only S&M club which happens to be 100% legal because all workers there signed a contract of their own will and are over 18…" He rolled his eyes.

"Jeez. Let's hope she doesn't try to drag Hibiki over there."

"Let's hope she doesn't. I still don't see the point to her femdom mania."

"If there's any to begin with." Acid warned.

"There isn't: it's some random caprice or obsession." Jack sighed.

"I won't deny that war changes people and you two were very young when that war in your nation happened… But trying to rape Hibiki Misora just because she wants to… That won't do." He grumbled.

"Of course. That's what we've been struggling to prevent ever since Rock Man blew up Meteor G, over two years ago."

"Jeez. Why did she have to be like that? I can tolerate her cold behavior and her mania of trying to degrade me, but that… Scaring Hibiki like that and putting pressure on her… Jeez. Women." He grumbled.

"I know. I'm afraid I've never really understood neechan either: she always seemed to be so… distant." Jack rolled his eyes.

"SOMEONE SAVE US! THE OMENS CAME BACK!"

Utagai Shinsuke rushed in while looking panicked and like he'd run all the way here from somewhere else.

"T-t-the v-v-vending m-m-machine!" He uttered in a rush.

"What's wrong with it today?" Shidou sighed.

"It was muttering Demoniac things!"

"Oh come on. It was just saying "_hola y adiós_" the whole time. War Rock surely rigged it again, like the brutish fellow always does to begin with, anyway." Cygnus sighed.

"But isn't that…?"

"Jeez. That's just Spanish! It was saying "hi & bye"!"

"A-ah, is t-t-t-that s-s-s-so?"

"Stop making your teeth dance." Cygnus fumed.

"B-b-b-but!"

"Don't you have some job to do?" Shidou suggested.

"Oh! True! Job, job!"

"Man. War Rock, Moon Disaster, Omega, Sigma… That quartet is enough to drive you mad." Jack complained.

"I know. At least Omega and Sigma are in an overseas mission and they won't be showing up for a while. And I hope Moon Disaster goes sing his _extravaganzas_ at the penguins in Antarctica."

"Let's hope that, yeah. Or else we'll need to build an anti-madness shelter at this rate."

"My, my. What's with the gloomy mood, Shidou – chan? Didn't you try some of the music I recommended?" Dr. Yoiri stepped in.

"No." He drily replied.

"It's very relaxing."

"I haven't had time."

"Alright, when you have time…"

"Dr. Yoiri, there's a package for you labeled "Ultimate Guide of the 22nd Century by WRS"…" A female Commando came in while carrying a thick package.

"Oh my? Maybe it's a present from one of my sister's granddaughters."

She opened it and found a printed photograph of some elder woman with a face filled with wrinkles and with messy, dirty and decaying gray hair: Dr. Yoiri frowned and didn't seem to get the point but Shidou sighed and rolled his eyes.

"This one was LAME. War Rock." He called out.

"Warus Rockus Samus!"

"Yeah, yeah. I know that tune of yours. Just show your hide."

"Beware, Akatsuki! I poisoned all "Sweet Candy" in the nation!"

"I'm SO afraid. Really."

"Mwah, hah, hah. When Sigma gets back then we'll have a party in the Denpa – kun Square~! See ya~! Acid Disaster!"

"Jeez."

"Oh my. So Rock – chan pulled a joke on me? I don't see the point."

"There's none to begin with, hakase~…"

"Oh, is that so? Well. I'm going back to improving the Noise Canceller: the field data you collected during your second visit to Omicron was useful, Shidou – chan."

"When will you quit the nicknames, hakase~?"

"Oh my. Well. I don't know."

She walked back to the elevator after throwing the book into a garbage bin: Jack rolled his eyes and the female Commando sighed too as she went out again.

"Man."

"Anyway. If you feel like it, you're free to go try to talk to Queen Tia and point out that no word-play will save her from trial and prison. A rape is a rape and there's no beating around the bush or loopholes to exploit: it's as clear as this." Shidou told Jack.

"Huff. Sure. I know it won't make much of a difference but, for the record… At least it'll be proven that we warned her plenty of times and she disobeyed those warnings. Another infraction to add to the list of charges in a court…"

"Yeah. We spoke about this with a prosecutor and she was very straight to the point. Good luck."

"Thanks. We'll all need it. By the way, what about Hyde and Shinobi?"

"Huff. Hyde keeps on playing orchestra conductor and Shinobi now practices _kendo_ most of the time. Phantom seems about to regret sticking with Hyde to begin with and Assassin keeps on attacking sheep on the mountains." He rolled his eyes.

"In short: nothing's changed."

"Correct."

"Fine. I'm off."

"See you."

"Good-bye." Acid dully added.

Jack left the room and Shidou resumed reading a report before picking up a pen and signing it: he then walked over to one of the Operators and handed it to him.

"Make sure it gets to Inspector Goyouda."

"Roger."

"Well. Paper-work's over: let's drop by Kodama Town and stock on some "Sweet Candy"." He suggested.

"Roger."

He walked out of the building while humming a tune and found Moon Disaster making some weird dance in front of the Wave Liner station entrance to the exasperation of the 2 Commando assigned to keep watch over that armored door.

"YO! YO! YO! Moon Ace, on the scene and on the ground!"

"Jeez. Moon Disaster. War Rock told you to do this, didn't the rascal?"

"YO! YO! YO! Acid Disaster, my _aibou_! Let's _rock 'n roll_!"

"When did I become your _aibou_, anyway…? You've got public waiting for you in Antarctica!" He grumbled.

"YO! YO! YO! Well then! Moon Ace, on the ace and on the ice~!"

"What in the… A~h! I give up!" He growled.

"YO! YO! YO! Start of the season, is this? Heh, heh, heh! _Ciao~_!"

"War Rock…! You bothersome meddling jerk…! Just you wait! SHEESH!"

18:09 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Hello~… My dear! Cleansing service~!"

"… Did the owl beat the tiger?"

"What's that? Some joke? Hah, hah, hah. Of course not."

"Gotcha."

"Huh? What?"

"You there, that girl! ID yourself!"

"C-cleansing staff!"

"Oh yeah? You didn't know the password."

"N-newbie!"

"Even a newbie gets told on the 1st day of work."

"Lovely. I'm sure Queen Tia – sensei sent that gal here."

"Pororon! Guess so, Misora."

Hibiki Misora had been writing down something in a paper while inside of her Okudama Studios room: a woman knocked at the door from the outside and she merely lifted the right eyebrow: Urakata Mamorou called out to the woman and Misora sighed while Harp sounded unsurprised at the happenings.

"SECURITY~!"

"Roger! Get out, you fake!"

"I'll remember this!"

"Of course you will. You lot are the types to hold grudges." Urakata wasn't surprised.

"They got inside stealing an employee's ID." The Security Wizard reported next while the spy's yells faded away.

"Sheesh."

"We called the Satella Police."

"Fine. Let them handle the stuff. Misora? Can I come in? The mouse beat the lion in 1 minute 33 seconds."

"Roger, sir. Please come in."

Urakata came in, sighing, while Misora stood up to face him: he slapped his face and defeat and growled.

"Do you have a hunch?"

"Queen Tia – sensei."

"Hmmm… The former "Dealer" member, was it?" He seemingly tried to remember.

"Yes. She's sister to Jack – kun, that friend of Subaru – kun who'd come over the day the incident with Ice happened…"

"Hum. I seem to remember, yeah. So? Why did she send this fake?"

"It's her way of warning me."

"Warning you?"

"Well… To be honest, sir… It's a somewhat… ahem… private talk."

"Ah. I won't ask any further, then."

"Thank you, sir. Well. To put it simply… She seems to have some kind of warped jealousy over me, I dunno why, and tries to downgrade me."

"Man. As if the record labels' perverts and the magazine perverts weren't enough… Now we have that gal to deal with too?"

"I think that she won't be the type to pull the same trick twice. She's obsessed with standing out as different from the lot."

"Ah! Then that's something."

"Trouble?" Suzuka asked as she showed up in the threshold.

"Obviously." Ice, her Wizard, shrugged.

"Yeah. Someone who's trying to downgrade me…" Misora shrugged.

"The city's gone mad." Ice sighed.

"Pororon! You couldn't put it clearer than that." Harp sighed.

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah. So the Ice Princess strikes back with a hammer of anger, eh, Misora~?"

"War Rock. Go beat Phantom Black's Noise Wave 6 record."

"That a challenge, Misora~?"

War Rock showed up in front of the Wave Station while grinning but Misora directed a dull, bored and unimpressed glare at him while coming up with something outta the blue to shoo him away.

"Sure as Hell." She fumed.

"Alright! By the way: will ya explain to me what was that stuff I dropped by last time around?"

"No. It's Top-Secret. Maybe if you pull Moon Disaster's ears he'll let out a hint or two. If he doesn't beat ya before that."

"Wha~t? Moonie Ace~ is gonna beat me, ya say~? Just ya wait! I'm so gonna beat the guy to a pulp! Mwah, hah, hah!"

War Rock warped out and Misora fumed: the others sighed in exasperation as well.

"My good mood is ruined. I need some fresh air. Be back immediately: not like I want to stay too much outside now, in November…"

"Roger. I'll go back to supervising."

"We've got to practice for our next filming sequence. See ya, Misora – chan."

"Good. Take care, Suzuka – chan."

"Pororon! Next time ice their flame." Harp told Ice.

"Delighted, truly!" She grinned.

"Let's go."

Misora picked a brownish coat and put it on before stepping outside and walking past three employees having a smoke and chatting: she walked down the avenue and entered the tennis yard: she sat down on a bench and stretched.

"Well. At least Kanaya, my pale imitator, is safely locked in jail and there's no way she'll get out by herself. And Queen Tia – sensei can threaten but maybe she's in a position in which she can't take any action without being intercepted." She muttered.

She stretched again and circled one around the tennis yard before heading back into the building and back into her room: she took off the coat and placed it on the perch before sitting down in the chair and picking up her pencil again while looking at the lyrics she'd written insofar.

"Hmm… I think I can improve them a bit. Let's think. _Sailing skies, sailing skies, towards the unknown_… That doesn't sound too bad, you know: let's write it down."

She wrote down the new three lines she'd thought of and then paused again: she glanced at some aerial photographs of tropical-like islands somewhere and seemed to seek inspiration from them.

"Hmmm… _Bright sun, bright sun, sparkling ocean, sparkling ocean, juicy coconut, juicy coconut… _I want to have an optimistic and relaxing mood to it since it seems to be fashionable as of late."

"Pororon! I'm back from collecting news. I stumbled upon Wolf and he told me there's some new fan club dedicated to Juurou – san in Kodama Elementary, see~…" Harp returned.

"Juurou – san? I vaguely remember having seen him once or twice, yeah, but I'd never guessed he was THAT popular…"

"Well. It's a boys' club: it'd seem he brags about his _Rambo_ fighting style and it got popular."

"Boys will be boys." She shrugged.

"Guess that. Humans get more complicated with every day: I've been around for almost 3 years now and I still find some stuff hard to understand, see."

"You're not the only one." Misora rolled her eyes.

"Guess I'm in the club."

"Yeah. The "Less-You-Know-The-Better Club"…" She sighed.

"That's some name."

"It's an irony, Harp. But, anyway. I feel like I'll soon have this song completed and ready."

"That'll be great."

"Sure."

"Emergency, emergency! We're being invaded by a hostile fleet of smoking burning and intoxicating cylinders!" The speakers suddenly blared to life.

"Jeez. Rock. Is that cha new idea of a joke? It's LAME." Harp sighed.

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah. It's MEAL! My newest meal!" War Rock laughed through the speakers.

"Jeez. Moon Disaster will say ya are a lil berserk runt in his next _extravaganza_." Misora improvised.

"Wha~t? The rascal! This time around I'm going all out!" War Rock growled aloud.

"Phew. Boys will be boys, yeah." Harp sighed in relief.

"Told cha." She shrugged and resumed her work.

"I suddenly got a bad feeling."

"It's gotta be your imagination, Harp. I'm sure this will be a quiet November to begin with." She shrugged it off.

_Yet… I feel something… The advent of a crisis? Or, else…? _


	2. Chapter 2: Dynamic Duo

**Chapter 2: Dynamic Duo**

10:37 AM (Japan Time), Friday November the 2nd…

"…which will allow you to find your fated one…"

"Jeez. I'm fed up with this spam… What's with the filters?"

"They're being updated."

"Jeez."

"Calm down, Shidou."

"Once I get rid of this spam!"

"No good."

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah. Spam and ham!"

"Sigma. Not you now."

"Mwah, hah, hah. Sigma's back from nowhere at all!"

"Jeez. You mean from Thailand."

"Did ya say something, Bloody~ Shadowy~?"

"Blood Shadow!"

Shidou had been checking out his mail while standing in the main yard of the WAXA Japan Branch: he fumed when he played a spam message and Acid explained what was going on: a manly voice rang out and Shidou rolled his eyes upon recognizing it: another voice corrected the guy named Sigma but got annoyed when Sigma pulled a nickname on him.

"Mwah, hah, hah. Tremble, ducks!"

Sigma materialized in front of Shidou: he was about two meters tall and was colored jet black: a red spheroid could be seen set on his chest area and it seemed to be missing the armor over its mass.

His face had two red eyes and one shone brighter than the other: two horns, one of which was almost erased, were set on the sides of the head.

These added a "demonic" look to him.

Green data flows moved around his body and he held a massive black and green sword in his right hand which he was currently aiming at the floor in a lazy manner.

"Quit it with the nicknames or Boss is gonna get annoyed."

Blood Shadow, on the other hand, looked rather similar to Rock Man but with several design alternations to him: his main color of choice was red.

He sported black shades and a flock of messy reddish hair came out from behind the helmet given how it only covered the face and the front of the head: his ear-pads had two purple "V" letters drawn inside of them.

His armor had the purple letters "BS" engraved on the chest area while his legs were colored black and had two red stripes running down the legs' sides in a parallel manner.

His right forearm was covered by a device colored red coupled with a piece of it which was colored transparent red: a small indentation near the wrist had the same "BS" initials engraved there: and, where the hand would be, a large double-barreled shotgun emerged instead.

"Heh, heh, heh. Ya sure of it, Bloody Shadowy~?"

"SIGMA!" A voice yelled over his radio.

"Yikes!"

"I'd woken up in a good mood and you want to blow it up?"

"N-no, Boss!"

"Then behave!"

"R-roger, Boss!"

"Jeez." Blood Shadow grumbled.

"So? How'd it go?" Shidou asked.

"We found no weird relics or anything potentially dangerous."

"Yeah. Solo let out some locations and we checked them out but whatever had been there must've been pillaged long time ago…" Sigma shrugged as he patted the sword with his left hand.

"I see. Well. Nothing big has happened here either: the status quo remains unchanged. Queen Tia won't show her hand so bluntly even though we know she sent someone to try to intrude Okudama Studios…"

"Hum. She's still obsessed with chasing Misora – chan?" Blood Shadow didn't seem too surprised.

"Sure thing… We're running out of ideas to try to get her to be reasonable but she doesn't want to. At all."

"Man. Let's hope she doesn't become another "Ice Queen"." Sigma muttered.

"Last thing we'd need!" The "Boss" grumbled.

"Any ideas over there, Vadous?"

"Frankly, no. Did you try telling Miss Heartless to talk with her?"

"We tried, yes. But she simply replied with her usual "your advice belongs to another generation, ma'am" and then pretended she wasn't there to begin with. Huff."

"Jeez. What a stubborn girl."

"I know war makes you change and such and I won't deny it: but that's no excuse for wanting to rape a girl out of jealousy. It could ruin her life and career." Shidou grumbled as he un-wrapped one "Sweet Candy" and began to munch it up.

"Another reason to reinforce security… You never know what can happen with such an opponent… She might even gas the whole of Okudama Studios to try to get to Hibiki."

"Good point. There are probabilities of such a _scenario_ happening: we can't lower our guards." Acid noted.

"Alright, Sigma. You've got some work to do."

"OK, Boss. What's the work about?"

"You'll go and place sensors in any place where one might procure sleeping gas or some dangerous gas… We want to monitor if someone tries to get some without a valid reason: Queen Tia will surely employ some proxy or another and avoid taking a step outta the house she has in Shiisaa Island." Vadous described.

"Roger."

"Blood. You'll go check the security at Okudama Studios and talk with Urakata – san about trying to improve it."

"Understood, Boss."

"Good. And, once you've done that, drop by the prison and check on the status of those two to see if they're up to something. I wouldn't lower the guard regarding them."

"Acknowledged. I'm on my way."

"Good."

Both headed for the Wave Station and, from there, into the Wave Roads: they climbed up and reached the Cosmo Wave Warp Point: Shidou sighed and interacted with his Hunter – VG.

"Let's hope this suffices."

"Let's hope it, yeah. I'll protect that child no matter what it takes."

"Good. Her chip implant is working as it should?"

"Yeah. Lartes told me so already. She leaves the GPS on so that we can check where she is at if there's the need to."

"Hmmm… But let's be careful too: Queen Tia could ambush her in her own apartment, even. We need Hibiki's permission to check it out when she's in Okudama Studios: we can simply place a sensor on the door to count how many times it's opened and closed and check if it makes sense."

"Good point, Akatsuki. I wouldn't be surprised if that was her aim."

"So. Holmes and Watson. Did you figure out my movements?" Queen Tia's voice suddenly joined the radio conversation.

"You hacked into my Hunter – VG now?" Shidou sighed.

"Queen Tia. Why don't you give it up? Why do you need to hurt that child to begin with?" Vadous questioned.

"Who knows? If you're so good at deducing then try to figure it out, Hastings."

"Irony won't help you win, Queen Tia."

"Deducing won't help you win, Hastings." She drily countered.

"Huff. You're one stubborn child."

"I knew it. Your points seem to be rather moot, Vadous."

"Who knows?" He tried to counter.

"Oh. Akatsuki knows it. He knows it all. You're the genius, aren't you, Akatsuki?" She taunted him.

"That won't work anymore." Shidou grumbled.

"That remains to be seen. Time will judge. Patience will be rewarded."

"We've got patience too and we'll use whatever means we need to prevent you from scarring that child."

"You're free to try, but of course. But maybe you shall regret it."

She suddenly cut the radio band and both guys fumed: Acid sighed and seemed to be exasperated with the whole deal.

"I can't compute anything like this." He fumed.

"Welcome to the club." Vadous replied with some sarcasm.

"That much I can understand."

"Man. Queen Tia…! What's gotten into you? Sheesh."

"We gotta find a solution or else…"

11:11 AM (Japan Time)…

"… So! Explain yourself. What's this about?"

"Yeah. Why would you of all people bother to get us outta there?"

"Relax, relax… We've got a common enemy, don't we?"

"Don't try to beat around the bush."

"We're not idiots."

"I never said you were."

"So you want us to be indebted to you? Did you really think we'd be?"

"Of course not. It's a momentary truce!"

"Momentary truce, huh. So we'll eventually go each other's paths. That seems better."

"So! Punk. You're not gonna say anything?"

"I don't need to unless my Lord orders me to."

"Hyde. Just say what you want outta us."

"We won't wait much longer."

"Sure, sure."

A teen guy and a gal were standing in a decadent living room of a house somewhere and talking to Hyde, human ID of Phantom Black, plus another guy: the living room had an unused chimney, decaying red curtains and a simplistic central lamp hanging from the ceiling.

"To begin with: do you know our names?"

"Of course I do. You're Kurayami."

"Hmpf."

Kurayami was a guy around Subaru and company's age: his eyes' irises were crimson red and his hair was colored jet black hair: it was rather messy and reached all the way to the base of his neck.

He wore black clothes: a black wool jumper, fingerless gloves, jeans, socks and sneakers.

"And you're Kanaya."

"Yeah. So?"

Kanaya was a girl around the same age: she also had red crimson eyes irises and jet black hair which ended close to the base of the neck.

She wore the same clothes as Kurayami did.

"I know you have "some" plans for Rock Man…"

"Hmpf. But they're not worth your interest." Kurayami scoffed.

"Yeah. It's beyond your dramatics." Kanaya added.

"Now, now. Let's not rush it up."

"And who role does Shinobi have in this?"

Shinobi, the guy standing to Hyde's right, was a teen guy about Subaru and the others' height and maybe he was about their age too.

He wore _ninja_ wool clothes which were a balaclava with an opening on the rear, a wool black sweater, pants, socks and sandals.

His hair was brown and it jumped out from behind in a spiky and wild manner.

His eyes' irises were red.

He carried a _katana_ sheath on his back along with a leather band which stretched diagonally across his chest.

"I merely obey the will of Hyde – sama." He shrugged.

"I understand that your plans involve humiliating the guy…"

"So what?" Kurayami shrugged.

"Are you gonna rewrite those?"

"No, no! They're good as they are. I just want you to do what you wish."

"What we wish, huh." Kurayami kept on looking hostile.

"Sounds fishy… There's some "but" somewhere in the deal."

"No, no. There are no "buts"! I've planned for an excellent trap already and the chance will come tomorrow… Shinobi did some field job and got a place and materiel."

"How generous of you." Kurayami muttered.

"And you don't want anything in exchange?" Kanaya looked suspicious and mistrusting of the whole deal.

"Just film it: I'll rejoice seeing the guy being reduced to powerlessness and struggling in vain… Heh, heh, heh."

"I wouldn't be so cocky myself." Phantom muttered.

"_Onoree_!" A voice howled.

"Assassin. Be quiet, will ya?"

A Wizard formed to Phantom's right.

It was reminiscent of a typical ghost, having a white body with no legs and a hood with a Halloween-like face carved on it emerged: its "eyes" shone with reddish light.

"Hmpf!" The Wizard grumbled.

"Companion dispute, eh?" Kurayami taunted.

"Hard to believe you've managed to avoid them from slaughtering each other, true." Kanaya sneered.

"That's a minor detail." Hyde shrugged.

"I wouldn't call it "minor" myself… More like a "big deal"…"

"What would you know, Phantom? Just let me expose the idea."

"Fine. I'll be checking the perimeter sensors."

"Hmpf!"

"You stay quiet, Assassin. Go practice with the Viruses."

"Ssss."

"Alright. The noisy audience left so we can continue our chat."

"Hmpf. So? What'll happen once we do that?" Kurayami questioned.

"You're going to stab us in the back?"

"No, no… You'll be free to do as you wish!"

"It better be so. Or else you won't live long to laugh at us."

"Consider this a warning."

"I knew it. I always study the circumstances before making a move, anyway." He calmly shrugged.

"Are you sure your precious trap will work?"

"I have no doubts. Knowing Rock Man's personality then it'll work in a smooth manner… We'll lay out bait and when they step into the territory that's when the trap will begin. Heh, heh, heh. I got a device which can split a Denpa – Henkan human from the Denpa Body… So we'll use it and quickly reduce the guy to powerlessness. And from there you can use whatever means you deem necessary." He exposed.

"Fine. We'll accept this offer but, remember… You can't catch us with our guards lowered." Kurayami warned.

"And you'll be better off not trying to."

"Of course not." He showed them his hands.

"Good. I hope there's a room with decent heating in this ruin."

"Of course there is: it's not like I like it being cold."

"Fine. We need a while to re-install our armor programs and our battle abilities anyway. And don't try to spy on us either. Give us the coordinates of that place and we'll assess it too." Kanaya commanded.

"Shinobi, give them the coordinates."

"Roger, Hyde – sama."

Shinobi activated his Hunter – VG and transmitted some data to another Hunter – VG Kurayami had: he copied it into Kanaya's one and they merely nodded to each other in agreement before looking back at Hyde: he lifted the right eyebrow at Shinobi, who bowed.

"If you'd follow me… I'll show you to your rooms."

Both followed him outta the living room while Hyde formed a smug smile and rubbed his hands in excitement: Phantom warped back into the room and sighed: he seemed to be in a pessimistic mood.

"Hyde… You're getting cocky."

"No! I'm getting excited!"

"Loopholes. It's the same thing, man."

"It isn't! My Hyde Manual says so!"

"Hyde Manual, oh come on…" He groaned.

"Heh, heh, heh. Those barbarians come from southern lands can't expect what'll strike them…" Hyde chuckled.

"Not that again. When will you quit it with the _Hamlet_ parodies?"

"Who knows? Heh, heh, heh."

"Jeez. I can foresee a grim outcome, sure thing. Your precious plan back in August didn't work out either."

"Che! That was because there were too many interlopers!"

"Sure, sure… And you got cocky, as usual."

"Nya~h! I feel vehemently disgusted!"

"Then have some green tea." Phantom shrugged.

"Heh, heh, heh, heh. Just you wait, Rock Man…!"

"Man. This guy won't change. At all. This doesn't bide well for me."

11:15 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Subaru – kun!"

"Huff. What now, _iinchou_?"

"Rock Man – sama can't get hurt next time around!"

"Not like I get hurt on purpose."

"Not you! Rock Man – sama!"

"When will you stop treating me as if I was a separate person? I don't change my personality or anything, either."

"If I say so then it must be so!"

"Jeez."

Subaru had been enjoying his morning break in the middle school's yard when Luna suddenly showed up in front of him and began her act: Subaru rolled his eyes and was obviously exasperated with the whole deal to begin with.

"Don't you have something far more important do?"

"No!"

"I doubt it."

"Luna – chan, you've got to watch out for your image!" Mode hushed.

"Huh! My image, true! I can't look like I bother others!" She snapped outta it and cleared her throat.

"Phew." Subaru muttered.

"But this isn't settled, Subaru – kun! There'll be TALK!"

"_Hai_~…" He sighed.

She strode away as Kiboyama and Tsukasa joined him and sat to his left and right respectively.

"_Iinchou_ got stubborn again, right?" Tsukasa guessed.

"Sure did. When will she stop treating me like I and Rock Man were split personalities?" He grumbled.

"Guess she needs a cold shower." Kiboyama guessed.

"It'd fit with Kizamaro's First Law of Behavior." Kizamaro announced as he showed up there.

"Please…" Pedia sighed.

"Kizamaro. When will you snap out of that vanity?"

"V-vanity~?" He gasped.

"Of course. What else is it, then? Stop making up non-existent laws of something: you're good at Math and all but that doesn't make you a genius to begin with."

"It can't be!"

"It can be."

"I'm doomed!"

"Stop acting like Utagai – san. Get to the shelter." Subaru sighed.

Kizamaro ran off and Gonta showed up next as he ate a sandwich and drank some water from a plastic bottle.

"Man. Kizamaro ran off like he wasn't in time to catch the train."

"Vegetable sandwich, huh?" Tsukasa spotted.

"Huff. Yeah. _Iinchou_'s orders… Man."

"Buruo~! You needed it to begin with: you won't die from doing a diet, anyway, Gonta!" Ox told him from inside the Hunter – VG.

"I know that, man, but… Huff."

"Let's try to be optimistic." Subaru suggested.

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah. Subari~! Your twin bro came back from sun-bathing in Shiisaa Island!"

"Don't say nonsense, War Rock. I know Blood came back from a mission in Thailand. And he's not my twin brother. End of the tale."

"And start of the madness!"

"Shinobi will beat your Crimson Machine records."

"Wha~t? The punk! Just ya wait, punk!"

"Phew. At least there's always something to shoo the guy away before it gets further maddening." Kiboayama sighed in relief.

"You haven't had to bear the guy for almost 3 years." Subaru warned.

"Yeah. We should consider ourselves fortunate." Tsukasa rolled his eyes.

"Truly fortunate." Kiboyama added with some sarcasm.

"Sure thing." Jack sighed as he joined them.

"No luck, Jack?"

"None at all. When neechan gets stubborn… There's no talking to her: it drives me mad, even."

"Sheesh. Let's hope we can keep her away from Misora – chan." Tsukasa sighed.

"Let's hope it, yeah." Kiboyama muttered.

"Well. No time to get down… We should try to feel optimistic and look forward to the weekend: we won't have too high of a workload so… We can use the chance to relax." Subaru tried to cheer the air up.

"Sure. I'll continue reading the novel I'm reading. It's relaxing. Let's hope Rock and the others don't start some scandal." Tsukasa commented while cheering up a bit.

"That's the spirit. I'll be reading some _manga_ too." Kiboyama smiled.

"Guess I'll be going out for a walk and try to see some film at Roppodo Hills." Jack got animated.

"I'll go to the mansion and meet with Master."

"With Dr. Lartes, eh? You're going to practice some _kendo_ too?" Tsukasa smiled.

"Sure thing."

"Good. By the way, we did read "Albert's Adventures"…" Kiboyama hushed to him.

"Oh please. Don't praise me. It's just the journal entries of back then: that's all there's to it."

"Heh. Feeling praised?" Jack grinned.

"Yeah. Too much, even."

"Huh! 3 minutes left. We should start to get in the move." Tsukasa checked his Hunter – VG.

"OK. We'll be patrolling and training." Storm announced.

"Let's see if we can set a new record." Miles suggested.

"Good. I'm always up to the challenge."

"Let's move out."

Both Wizards departed from the Hunter – VGs as the students began to head back into their respective classrooms: they got into their seats after they took off their coats and placed them on their chairs.

"Subaru – kun! We'll be settling that topic later!" Luna suddenly showed up in front of his desk.

"I know." He was unimpressed.

"W-what's with that face?" She got annoyed.

"I'm not impressed by this anymore. It's been about 3 years since you began doing it, anyway."

"Hmpf! Well then! Next time I want Albert – kun to come to town and show his face around! Get it?"

"Yeah, yeah. The class is looking."

"YIKES!"

"Huff. I saw it coming miles away." Mode sighed.

Luna looked around in a nervous manner and then quietly returned to her desk and sat down: Subaru sighed and took out his notebook and pens to write down the lesson: his Hunter – VG vibrated in silent mode and he checked it out.

_Hum. A reminder: tomorrow Harp Note and I need to go check on Hyde and Shinobi at 11 AM. Fine. It's just going, having a quick look, and getting back. It doesn't even take 10 minutes. I can spare those. Huh?_

A pop-up showed up onscreen and he read it with an annoyed look on his face.

_Sheesh. War Rock. "The glass ball of ball glass will tell ya who your future wife will be!"… This joke's lame and sexist. Let's delete it. Do something useful instead of sending silly messages at me. Let's switch this off: the teacher is about to come in!_

He switched off the Hunter – VG and saw the other students doing the same thing: Subaru rummaged for a moment in his backpack and took out a photo of some emblem.

This emblem had a yellow edge: the insides consisted of two black pyramidal formations in the NW and SE corners which formed a thin black line connecting them: two opposite-facing halves of one hexagon colored red had been set on each side of the line.

_I got this in August, when the whole deal with that "Clock Man" guy: it's a pity but the affair had to be classified to avoid repercussions: nobody will get to know the truth. It was too delicate of a topic to let it out publically as well, so… Huh! No time to reflect: the teacher's come in._

He stored the photo back in the backpack and faced forward.

"Good. Let's begin the Math class."

_I suddenly felt a shiver go down my spine… Am I over-reacting or I can foresee something dreadful? I'm not sure…_


	3. Chapter 3: Trigger

**Chapter 3: Trigger**

10:10 AM (Japan Time), Saturday November the 3rd…

"… It's been a while since we last came here, eh, Subaru – kun?"

"Yeah, Misora – chan. Let's go say hi to Boss and then we'll move out into today's mission."

"Heh. Hyde must be trying to direct the Hideous Orchestra Mark 27."

"Not bad."

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah. The Punk Rock Band Mark 666!"

"Pororon! Oh! Stay quiet for a bit, will cha?"

"Morning."

"Hi, Boss."

"Hi, Mr. Vadous."

Subaru and Misora along with their Wizards stepped out of a square metallic platform atop a diagonal shaft and into a new room somewhere as War Rock joked and Harp complained.

This new room's floor was a narrow steel corridor wide enough for one person to stand which was shaped like two trapezes connecting each other by a line: the ground was lowered and covered in a grid – like metal on the spaces between each trapeze and to left and right of the corridor: another room could be seen expanding downwards below this one through the metallic grid's openings.

There was a small circle which marked the start of a rail crossing across the room until the other end: he followed it with his sight and ended up spotting a black metallic armchair with the Alphabet letter "V" painted behind it on purple color placed at the end of the rail.

The other end of the room contained a console which was filled with several LEDs, indicators, switches, levers and buttons plus a built-in keyboard and mouse pad.

Three gigantic and interconnected LCD screens had been affixed to the wall to be above it.

The room's walls had several metallic stripes built into it which contained round LED lights: the centermost point of the room had a hatch built into the ceiling which was currently closed.

The room had a dome shape.

"Yo! Bossy! Subari~ is gonna propose to Mars Warrior!"

"Oh come on. War Rock. Let's not start it again. Do I need to lock you up on the server again?"

"Yikes!"

"See?"

The chair turned to reveal a man who looked like he was on his mid-twenties.

His eyes' irises were red and his hair was colored jet-black yet it was neatly combed and arranged: there wasn't the slightest trace of facial hair on him.

He wore body armor made of an unknown grayish compound material: some purple patterns were drawn around it.

He sported a ragged, torn and worn out purple cape attached to the back of his shoulders which spread all the way to the ground but had some centimeters' margin of space.

He lastly carried two elaborated sword sheaths attached to the thick central belt colored black running around his waist.

"Alright. Omega just had a check and found out nothing out of the usual: I know it seems silly to do it but one never knows. Hyde could come up with something dreadful if we lower the guard." Vadous told them.

"I know it! The Dread Music Of Hell!"

"How original." Subaru drily muttered.

"Totally." Vadous grumbled.

"Mwah, hah, hah. Someone will reward my creativity!"

"Oh yeah? Who?"

"The Duke of Creativity! Nyah, hah, hah!"

"How clever of cha." Misora fumed.

"Pororon! True." Harp complained.

"Mr. Smiles will Smile on Smiles!"

"Oh yeah? I'm skeptical myself."

"What's with the ruckus? Huff. War Rock. You back at it?"

"Mwah, hah, hah. Omega's come!"

Omega stepped into the room once the platform climbed up to it.

He happened to be a Wizard about a meter and eighty tall.

A blue jewel shaped like an inverted triangle was set on the forehead of his helmet which was emitting a cross-shaped flash.

His eyes' irises were blue and they displayed seriousness while long blond hair came out from behind him and reached until the floor.

He had a red vest over his mainly black body and red armor over his forearms and boots: two golden circlets were set around his forearms and on his boots as well.

"So, Omega. Nothing?"

"Oh yeah. There was something. I found imagery of Shinobi sneaking into the Communications Module of "Bonds" below Dream Island… He tried to activate the system but it's dead so he gave up and left."

"Hmmm… I don't see how they could profit from that. "Bonds" wasn't destroyed after Subaru defeated Andromeda. It just was too filled with Z – Waves to safely approach Earth and it has some "Crimson" on it as a result of Meteor G flying past it at a close distance. It's orbiting Mars by now."

"Yeah. Amachi – san told me so. Hard to believe it's been about 3 years since then… Time sure does fly by…" Subaru muttered.

"Looking at security footage of some time ago I also spotted Kiboyama as he once lived there… Well, maybe I should say Kuroban… We know that Kiboyama was possessed by the guy back then…"

"Hum. I see. But, apart from that, there was nothing odd?"

"No. I checked the system myself and didn't spot anything. Maybe Hyde got the random idea of trying to collect "Crimson" from "Bonds" and was hoping to use the same method Subaru used to get there."

"It's not crazy. He could try to power-up with "Crimson" or to sell it to someone to generate "Noise" and create trouble, emulating Dealer's style…" Subaru rubbed his chin.

"Mwah, hah, hah. Trouble and bubble!"

"How brilliant." Omega fumed.

"Did ya tell Lartes to add stuff to Bloody Shadowy~?"

"No. It's not my business. I don't care if we're sexless androids who can solo Denpa – Henkan." Omega shrugged.

"Man. Your serious mode is no fun."

"Maybe we need to install one into you too." Omega directed a cold glare at War Rock.

"YIKES!"

He suddenly dematerialized and got inside of Subaru's Hunter – VG: Subaru rolled his eyes and fumed.

"This guy…"

"He won't change." Omega grumbled.

"At all." Vadous fumed next.

"Well. Let's get ready for our patrol." Misora tried to switch topics.

"Pororon!" Harp grinned.

"Ah yeah. Subaru. You've got "those" Battle Cards at hand, right?"

"I do, Omega – san."

"Good. Keep them ready. You never know. Hyde could try to ambush you along with Shinobi. Those Battle Cards should allow you to get out of that tight spot, were it to happen."

"I understand, sir."

"Good enough. Good luck."

"Thanks, sir."

"Ahem, ahem! Mr. Vadous, sir! Sigma left a voodoo doll of War Rock in my bed!" Tsukasa complained through a radio band.

"And he placed a manual on brawls on mine!" Kiboyama fumed.

"We need to install a switch on that guy. For real." Omega growled.

"I know. This weekend there's scheduled maintenance so we should be able to install that." Vadous sighed.

"SIGMA~!" Omega yelled.

"YIKES!"

"Stop meddling around or else…!" He threatened.

"R-roger, sir!"

"Sheesh. I need some fresh air. Later, guys." Omega fumed.

He warped out of the room while Subaru directed a slightly annoyed glare at his Hunter – VG as if to remind War – Rock to stay quiet.

"Hum. If you don't behave then I'll place a switch on you too." He coolly warned.

"Yikes."

"Pororon! The guy would deserve it, true!"

11:03 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Hum. Shinobi performed "Denpa – Henkan" and is training with "G" Viruses…"

"Must think he's Kando Aleo."

"Who?"

"Oh. Some new popular actor who showed up in a film named _Strike of the Martial Master_… It'd seem he's gotten a fan-girl club already and all: girls who like to see macho guys tackling each other with _kung-fu_, _taekwondo_, _karate_ and all… Some employees chatted about trying to interview him…"

"I see."

Rock Man and Harp Note were crouching behind some bushes and looking out through openings at Shinobi's "Denpa – Henkan" form: Harp Note brought up a name and Rock Man didn't know it so she explained it to him: he wasn't surprised.

"Mwah, hah, hah. Make way to Assassin Shinobi, Viruses!"

Assassin Shinobi didn't have much of a difference from regular Shinobi: he'd gained a purple cape hanging from behind his shoulders and two metallic _shuriken_ on his shoulders and knees.

His _katana_ sheath was painted purple and black while being decorated with four black dots around it.

The _katana_ itself had a red hilt with no decoration whatsoever: it was very plain.

"… Say… Don't you feel like something has changed?" Harp asked all of a sudden.

"Huh? No." Harp Note replied.

"Dunno why, but… I feel like something's different, all of a sudden…"

"Some trap…? I did well on bringing those, then…"

"You never know… Let's switch positions and try to see what Hyde is doing: then we pull out through the Wave Roads' Warp Point which leads to the Cosmo Wave…" Harp Note whispered.

"Roger."

Both silently snuck around the perimeter and spotted an open window of the living room: Hyde was giving them the back and conducting a 3D orchestra which sounded totally chaotic and had no sense of order or pattern to begin with: he seemed to be engrossed with it.

"Rise, my orchestra! Soon! Hyde Austrius will become famous!" He proclaimed.

"Hyde~… When will you quit it with the scandal?" Phantom sighed and sounded fed up with the deal.

"What would a disgraced actor who forgot his tuxedo know?" Hyde seemed to ignore him altogether.

"Not like you've got any tuxedos either, you know." Phantom pointed out to him.

"The conductor doesn't need one!"

"I'm skeptical myself."

"No wonder." Rock Man muttered.

"The guy's mottoes are moot to begin with. OK. Surveillance is over so let's pull out and go report to Akatsuki – san."

"Roger."

"Aw man! I don't get to shave the guy with a swing of my claws?"

"No." Harp fumed.

"We don't need to do that, anyway."

"You guys lack thrill!"

"I'm gonna rig the switch into you, seriously."

"YIKES!"

"Stay quiet."

Both quietly pulled away and used a nearby Wave Station to get into the Wave Roads: they travelled them heading south until they met a bifurcation with a ramp steadily climbing upwards until a Warp Point which led to the Cosmo Wave: both reached in but then stopped when a pop-up appeared over the Warp Point.

"What? Max transfer capacity: 1 Denpa Body every 15 minutes? This reeks of a trap." Rock Man guessed.

"They want to cut out our retreat… I suspect those two knew we'd be coming and have been pretending not to notice us… Let's get ready for a fight, Rock Man."

"Sure. Come out, you two! Assassin Shinobi, Phantom Black!"

"Too bad, Hoshikawa. You got the wrong fellows."

"Tee, heh, heh. So! Hibiki! Ready to experience the _Infinite Naraku_?"

"Those voices! No way!"

"Heck."

"Yeah. It's me. Kurayami!"

Kurayami showed up behind Rock Man and he whipped around to face the guy.

He simply looked like an imitation of his Black Ace form but with blackish shades and no wings.

"Tee, heh, heh."

Kanaya showed up behind Harp Note who turned around to face her as well.

She had had a purplish skull on her chest instead of the heart and the shades were also black and thick: the bodysuit had changed to a blacker coloring.

"Hyde got you out."

"Yeah. It's a momentary truce." Kurayami sneered.

"They're coming, too!"

"Mwah, hah, hah… Today you'll plunge into endless agony~…"

"Heh! This is what I call a perfect trap!"

Assassin Shinobi and Phantom Black joined the fray by showing up from the south and thus cutting off their escape route: both calmly glanced around as if analyzing the situation and trying to find a way out this tight spot: Rock Man narrowed his eyes and seemed to have reached a decision by the looks of it.

"Mega Card! Tabuu X!"

"What!" The four villains gasped.

"But! Rock Man!" Harp Note gasped.

Some data began to gather on the field and gave way to a Wizard which was unlike any seen before.

The Wizard had a humanoid shape and seemed to be around two meters tall.

Black armor made of an unknown material covered the whole of his body thus protecting him.

The helmet around his head lacked nose or mouth yet it had two cavities for the eyes which were plain red and lacking iris: but they seemed to be a decoration more than his real eyes, too.

His shoulders were plain and didn't have a spheroid form unlike most Wizards: he had elbows and the armor over the hands included two small dome-shaped objects with the Alphabet "T" character colored in rainbow colors drawn upon them.

The armor extended across his legs, being thicker around the knees and ended in ellipsoid segments protecting his feet.

Rainbow-colored lines travelled down their length.

The main body was absent of decoration save for a pattern drawing the same Alphabet "T" letter in the middle of the chest the colors of which were constantly shifting and mixing.

Lastly, four large and irregularly-shaped wings formed behind him: its colors were also constantly shifting, too.

"Apocalypse Now!"

The Wizard named "Tabuu" beat his wings and began to build up energy around his frame while closing his body: he suddenly chuckled and spread his arms and legs wide as a large ring of energy expanded around him and hit both opponents: the attack sent them flying and crashing against the goal's net: another two rings expanded from Tabuu's body and hit them before he made a reverence and vanished from the Field.

"Sorry for this, Harp Note!"

"What? Ah!"

Rock Man suddenly pushed Harp Note into the Warp Point and she got warped away: it immediately turned red and beeped as the popup displayed the text "ERROR" on it: Rock Man panted and grimaced upon seeing how his opponents had recovered.

"Sheesh! 750 damage for all of us, but… We were still at top power: you acted liked we'd predicted!" Kurayami grumbled.

"You men are SO predictable. Always wanting to be the hero." Kanaya taunted with a sneer.

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah… Our associate will eventually take care of that woman, anyway~…" Assassin Shinobi chuckled.

"Fall into endless agony, Rock Man! And be destroyed!" Phantom Black grinned.

"Che!"

"Charge~!"

11:09 AM (Japan Time)…

"… MR VADOUS!"

"Wha! H-Harp Note? Huh! I dozed off. What happened?"

"Subaru – kun! Subaru – kun!"

"W-what happened? Calm down!"

"Hyde! The jerk! He's released those two!"

"By all the…!"

Harp Note rushed into the dome-shaped room and her yelling woke up Vadous, who'd apparently dozed off while sitting on the chair: the screen displayed a map with a red blinking dot in a spot of it which suddenly vanished from it: an alarm rang out next and he sprung to his feet while Harp Note stopped her race to regain her breath.

"Boss! What happened?" Omega asked through the radio.

"Level 10 Alert!"

"… Is there something below Level 10 to begin with?" Omega seemed to guess it was some kind of joke.

"Huh? Ah! M-my bad! I didn't intend to pull a joke. Ahem! Subaru got caught into a trap by Hyde & those two! Move out to the scene: we need to figure out where they went off to!"

"Fuck. The last thing we needed! I'm going to the scene!"

"I'll tell Blood and Sigma to rendezvous with you on the scene too: the more the better. You never know what'll happen with those folk: we can't get confident."

"Gotcha. I'm on the move."

"Harp Note: stay here. I'll open a line with WAXA."

"Subaru – kun…! For my sake…!" She muttered.

"Hello? WAXA? This is Vadous. Emergency!"

"What?" Shidou showed up on the central screen and looked surprised at the news.

"Hyde has gotten into the move?" Acid guessed.

"Yeah. The jerk has released those two from the brig and they've formed a pact: they got Subaru!"

"What!" Daigo gasped in the background.

"What villains!" The Chief cursed.

"Trouble!" Dr. Yoiri gasped.

"Heck. Where's the scene?"

"The manor: but they don't seem to be there anymore. They might've left some clue they haven't noticed behind, too. The 3 Musketeers are converging into the scene."

"Alright. I'll go join them too. Let's go, Acid!"

"Roger."

"Denpa – Henkan! Akatsuki Shidou, On Air!"

"Be careful, Shidou – chan!"

"Huff. I know, hakase~…"

Acid Ace darted off the screen: there was a yelp and Amachi Mamoru rolled his eyes as if he guessing who'd yelped.

"What now, Utagai – kun?"

"A-Amachi – san, sir! I knew it, sir! Some disgrace has fallen upon us!"

"Stop being so pessimistic and try to go collect clues on the field: the more the better." The Chief commanded.

"M-m-m-me, sir?" He uttered in a rush.

"Yes, you." The Chief sighed.

"It's not like you need to battle." Cygnus reminded him.

"G-guess that… I'll b-be going."

"Let's contact Ushijima and get the guy to do something helpful." Vadous muttered aloud.

"I'll do it. I'm sure I can motivate him." Harp Note offered.

"Good. Then I leave that up to you."

"Ugh… Can ya hear me? It's me, War Rock…"

"War Rock! What happened to Subaru?"

"Grah! The black jerk pulled on us that machine thing…"

"Be more precise."

"Gruh! What a headache, damn it! The thing which King had in that huge machine… Which almost split up our "Denpa – Henkan"… That Mu relic thing, ya know…"

"Heck. They found a way to make it portable. Where are you?"

"In Hyde's manor living room… Guess they duped me here and fled to I dunno why…"

"Say! Why did you and Harp Note split, anyway?"

"Huh? Didn't the gal tell ya?"

"I forgot. I was hysterical. Well. Simple. They placed an access restriction on the Cosmo Wave Warp Point and Subaru – kun pushed me in to protect me from those 4 after he'd used Tabuu's power to momentarily hold them at bay and give me time to escape." Harp Note sighed.

"Sheesh. What a bunch of cowards."

"Of course. Seeing what happened very recently ago…"

"Akatsuki, did you hear that?"

"Sure did. I'm almost there. I'll check out the Warp Point but they surely didn't use it: it'd been too obvious. Even if they hacked it to send them elsewhere… They'll need to go physically."

"Yeah. Noise Waves are dangerous for normal humans: if I survived inside of one when King turned WAXA into "Jamming" is because Daigo – san had lowered the output of Meteor G."

"Yeah. Luckily enough." Daigo sighed in the background.

"They can use the Wave Roads but all traffic is monitored and they'd eventually be spotted by other Wizards and Denpa – kun. So I guess they picked a vehicle and fled through the land. They can't have gone that far and they must be aiming for somewhere lonely and sparsely populated to begin with. Maybe they'll use some abandoned house or house which is pending sale… These folk have a tendency to use the basements so let's check out houses with basements around the area." Vadous exposed some reasoning.

"Hello? Gonta – kun?"

"UO~H! Misora – chan!" Gonta gasped as he showed up on the screen.

"Trouble! Subaru – kun got caught by Hyde!"

"What! The jerk who dared to hurt _iinchou_…! What do I do?"

"Meet with Acid Ace in these coordinates and assist in gathering info: ask Denpa – kun and Wizards if they've seen odd vehicles rushing away at top speed! On the double! This is a "Raid Troop" mission!"

"Gotcha! Let's go, Ox!"

"Buruo~! Alright! Not like I'm going to let that punk get away with the glory of having hurt a pal!" Ox exclaimed.

"Denpa – Henkan! Ushijima Gonta, On Air!"

"Good! Move out!"

"Roger!"

"Ah! And don't tell Luna – chan. Just in case."

"Huh! Alright. Yeah. We don't wanna annoy _iinchou_, yeah."

"Good. They're on the move. But let's not spread the news."

"Of course not. That'd allow Hyde to get away with lowering everyone's morale and all." The Chief grumbled.

"Lartes! The implant's GPS: does it work?"

"Yeah! And from the speed of movement… They're in a car travelling at an average 40 km per hour!"

A man rushed in: he was n his mid-20s and about a meter and eighty tall more or less.

He had black slightly messy hair plus brownish irises' eyes.

He wore a medic's coat with the ID "Dr. Kazimura Lartes" written on it and sported brown pants plus shoes: he had a pair of reading glasses on, too.

He was looking at a Hunter – VG screen which showed a map with a red blinking dot moving across a road.

"They're already 4 kilometers away from there and heading towards the east."

"Good. Let's send the data yet… Wait. It could be a trap. They could be using a dummy. It seems too obvious to me: Queen Tia could've told them about the transmitter. They could've found a way to impair it even: you can't help but being paranoid in these cases." Vadous warned all of a sudden while rubbing his chin.

"Of course: Queen Tia – sensei could've told the "Anti" and whatever the "Anti" did was monitored by that Kanaya gal. And I suddenly think I know where she got her smug name from. Spanish "canalla" which means "fiend" or "bandit"… So she names herself a "bandit"." Harp Note brought up with some annoyance.

"That's some smugness alright. Reminds me of the Ice Queen even."

"I know, Lartes, I know. Acid Ace, Cygnus Wing, Omega! Chase that trail: the others must collect witness accounts!"

"I'm gonna help, too! I won't let them get away!" War Rock growled.

_Hold on, Subaru – kun! We're coming to rescue you!_


	4. Chapter 4: Naraku

**Chapter 4: **_**Naraku**_

11:31 AM (Japan Time), Saturday November the 3rd…

_O~w… My head aches… That damned Mu device…! Where the hell am I, anyway?_

"… Tee, heh, heh. All's ready."

"So. Your precious Master won't come to watch?"

"He's got no interest."

"Whatever. Let's get this show in the road."

_Shit. I know what's going on._

Subaru slowly began to wake up only to realize that he couldn't see anything but he heard the voices of Kanaya (giggling), Kurayami (addressing Shinobi with suspicion) and Shinobi (who was shrugging): he inwardly grumbled.

_A turf they came up with somewhere…! And they're going to torture me using S&M…! Like what happened to Gino – kun and Tsukasa – kun back in the Wizard City Tournament…! But I'm not afraid! If they could make it through sane then I can. Your plot is futile. _

Subaru realized that he had a black wool blindfold covering his eyes and that they'd put a plastic ball-gag over his mouth.

_And this stupid leather thing…_

He felt some strange bands of leather around his body: they began around the beginning of his legs and across the hips of his back until they joined an overall band around the waist: another set of bands were tied to cover Subaru's cock completely and completely circled around his sack: two bands were placed parallel above each other close to the base of the cock.

_This pain on my nipples…! Metallic cups…?_

He also had two small metallic cups connected by a chain clipped on his nipples.

_And what I'm sitting in… The infamous "horse"…_

The surface he was seated in had a triangular form and was made of wood with an upper metallic edge: he could feel two thick plastic vibrators with dots on their surface plunging into his ass.

His hands were tied by the wrists and two sets of ropes circled his torso above and below the nipples: he also had ropes tying his legs open over and below the knees: two metallic cuffs kept his ankles immobile.

"Let's put the plug on!"

Subaru felt how someone (Kanaya, judging from the voice) stuffed a set of small plastic beads set inside of a column into his urethra: she then placed a bell-shaped vibrator over his cock's head and strapped it there with cello-tape.

"And these eggs too!" Kurayami chuckled.

Kurayami placed 4 egg-shaped vibrators above and below the cups clipped on his nipples.

"Tee, heh, heh. You look so fitting like that, Hoshikawa… Men reduced to powerlessness… The vengeance of the left side of Nature started 2 centuries ago and it's slowly spreading… Tee, heh, heh."

_It's not my problem that all across History men have looked down on women and reduced them to inferior status. I never look down on any woman or girl. You try to use pointless mottoes to justify your actions but you're just a mere sadist._

"Vibrators: on! Max speed! Let the struggle begin!"

"Heh, heh, heh…" Shinobi chuckled.

All of the vibrators came on and Subaru involuntarily arched backwards from the sudden feeling: the ones in his ass began to spin clockwise and anti-clockwise respectively.

"And now you get this!"

SMACK!

_Ugh! She's hitting my rear with some wooden object!_

"Tee, heh, heh. But the fun isn't on having you ride the horse: that's just the _heating up_! Once the horse is done we'll get to fuck ya all over again: that's the _main dish_, see~!"

_You're mad._

SMACK!

_Ugh! It hurts! And my penis is bulging already! Ugh! But I'll be strong and I won't yield to these villains! At all! Heck, Tsukasa – kun went through worse because he was abducted by a Choina mafia man and kept prisoner for a year and a half in which he was tortured! But he made it through…! Well, he actually had to rely on Hikaru to take in all of that but… That doesn't change that he made it through!_

"Stubborn type, eh? Maybe ya won't be so much once we start fucking ya in a foursome. Tee, heh, heh. You'll get used to the feeling of a strap-on up your ass, yeah! As Hibiki will one day… But when that time comes I'll leave it up to Queen Tia – _senpai_~… She will know how to handle the thing in an efficient and calm manner, see~…!"

_Heck. And they plan on giving Queen Tia – sensei the tools or means to achieve her caprice. As if this wasn't enough trouble. _

"That reminds me! I found a song back when our trip into the 21st century which I found fitting for us. I'll play it as background! The name is "I am a Collector"… Music!"

_Collector? Of what? Of prisoners? _

"… _I'm not someone's King. I'm not someone's Soldier. Like piercing together a shattered mirror, I gather the pieces of a broken world. I am a Collector! I am a Collector! Collector!_"

"For those out there… The voice is a fella named Takeshi Kanaga! He portrayed a fella named Gelardan in _Pocket Monsters The Movie, Mirage Pokémon: Lugia, Explosive Birth_! _Yay! Check it out_!"

_I dunno what she means. Guess that's 21__st__ century stuff._

"By the way: did ya meet your ancestor, Hoshikawa~?"

_Ancestor? Is that some joke?_

"You know the fellow you met, Hikari Netto, right?"

_So you met them. Well. No surprise. You did admit to it and they did admit to it._

"It turns out that there's a fellow named Hoshikawa in his school's B – Class which is known to be a quiet type and rather lonely… Doesn't that look like how cha were?" She giggled.

_Ironies of life, I guess. And I'm surprised that my family name already existed about 200 years ago._

"… _I won't let go of tomorrow, I won't bury yesterday. Like notes lined up in a musical score, I realign tattered bits of time. I am a Collector! I am a Collector! Collector!_"

_Collector of WHAT? Or the point is that the song is ambiguous and you must see the film to see what he collects?_

"Tee, heh, heh. Another lil bit… I'll let ya go off and then ZAP! When ya wake up the foursome will be about to begin. Tee, heh, heh. I hadn't such excitement ever since July. Tee, heh, heh."

"I'm watching you." Kurayami warned Shinobi.

"So? Have I done something weird?"

"Not yet. But don't think you'll catch me with the guard down. I've got Viruses lurking here ready to assist us if you try to pull something on us, get it?" Kurayami warned next.

"Fine." He seemed to shrug.

"But that Clock Man guy was a failure, really~… He was a _lolicon_ from the start to the end! A pervert! Luckily enough he had no notion of "sex" so he'd just stared at them for hours on end trying to exploit their beauty: you and Rock Man EXE sure did us a favor by beating the guy up: it's no good to mess with Time-Space~!"

_No surprise that you know that: Shinobi must've told you._

"Don't blame me." Shinobi warned as if predicting what they were going to say next.

"Of course not. Can't say it's a bad idea but you never know: maybe some vital character would cease to exist too as a side-effect: maybe a descendant in the 22nd century who set the basis for Denpa technology would vanish and thus there'd be no Denpa technology now."

"Hum. Good point. I'll admit it. I'm afraid Hyde – sama gets obsessed with a idea and doesn't study it carefully enough." Shinobi muttered.

"… _You may look… at this sublime light. You may listen… to this heavenly melody. I will not be bound to the earth… I will not look down from the sky…"_

_Ugh! Does that mean that this guy lives in the sky or what?_

"… _I want to embrace the dreams trapped in this prism… That is my… Collection! Collection! Collection!"_

"And that's end, cutie~…"

_If you were thinking of pissing me off with nicknames then give it up: you're lame at those._

"By the way! Hibiki needs to become "Plenty". Plenty O'Toole."

_I fail to see the point unless it's another sexist joke._

"Man. That joke was lame." Kurayami muttered.

"Dunno." Shinobi shrugged.

"Well! It's about the time. Tee, heh, heh."

_Oh heck. Now comes the worse part!_

Kanaya suddenly loosened the cock bands and took out the beads and vibrator at the same time: Subaru gasped and released in several spurts which stained his body: he then felt an electrical jolt on the back of his neck and he lost consciousness… 

11:52 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Wakey, wakey~!"

BLOF!

_Ugh! Someone kicked my balls…! Huh! _

Subaru woke up to find that he was sitting on the ground on his knees: he felt a cock inside of his ass which belonged to someone lying face-up on the ground which had a mattress on it: he then felt a strap-on sliding inside from behind and a right hand pulling the chain of his nipples' cups to inflict him pain.

_Heck. I'm sure the guy stuffing it into me is Kurayami to begin with: Kanaya is coming from behind. And I suspect what Shinobi will do in the meanwhile. I hope the others find me soon: I don't fear for my sanity but I fear that I won't be able to control this anger. _

"Here, Hoshikawa~… Suck it up!"

His head was gripped from above and Subaru caught on that he had a metallic ring set in his mouth which forced it open: Shinobi stuffed his cock inside of his mouth and began to force him to follow his pace: Subaru felt how the nipples' vibrators were assaulting him again and how his balls had several clothes pegs clipped into their skin.

_What a bunch of psychotic sadists. And let's not start with Shinobi here who actually killed his father. This guy's mad but at least Hyde controls the guy to some extent._

"Tee, heh, heh. Feeling the despair, Hoshikawa~? If we have enough time then I'll have you taste the column… It's one of the most terrific devices ever invented, I promise you!" Kanaya announced.

_Shit. Is there no end to this madness?_

"No! There's no end! It's the Eternal _Naraku_! An eternity of suffering and agonizing! Kyah, hah, hah, hah, hah!"

_That laughter reminds me of Virgo, alright._

"Heh, heh, heh. You're tight, Hoshikawa! I thought you'd be looser after making out with your lovers, man." Kurayami taunted.

_Who knows? Speak for yourself: you bragged that you'd been Kanaya's _dominatrix_ pet for months, even before we found you again in our 1__st__ trip to Planet Omicron._

"Tee, heh, heh. I feel impatient to have this guy experience the column: you two release and swap. Once you're finished with the second round then I'll ZAP the guy and we can have fun with the column."

"OK!"

"Heh, heh, heh. Sounds like fun, alright. Here: swallow!"

"Take it in!"

Both men released and filled Subaru's mouth and ass: Subaru felt how Kanaya gripped his sides and lifted him a bit as Kurayami took his cock out of him and got to his feet: Shinobi replaced him and Kanaya lowered him straight into the hardened cock which slid inside with violence: Subaru inwardly groaned but then Kurayami gripped his head and stuffed the head of his cock on his mouth.

"Heh, heh, heh. Cleanse it!"

_You rascal: you'll be back in jail before you can count 5 days!_

The earlier cycle repeated: once he'd finished cleansing Kurayami's cock head then he gripped the back of Subaru's head with both hands and quickly moved his head up and down along the length of his cock: Kanaya kept on pulling the chain and Subaru inwardly groaned.

"Almost there." Kurayami reported.

"Heh, heh, heh. You'll end up wishing we'd fucked you more like this instead of being sentenced to the column!"

_Heck. I'm starting to feel tired: using Tabuu's power demands a lot of energy in exchange. And I feel the fear creeping in as well but I won't yield!_

Both men released again and he was zapped on the back of the neck…

11:58 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Tee, heh, heh. Ready to suffer like never before, Hoshikawa~? This thing is double effective in women: when _senpai_ places Hibiki here she'll be able to break her and turn her into a sex addict!"

_Ugh… I don't believe any of those boasts. I'll protect Misora – chan no matter what it takes! Boast while you can! And what's this column thing about, anyway?_

Subaru woke up again and tried to ignore Kanaya's boasting: he gathered that he was sitting on his knees and his back was tied to a cold metallic cylindrical column: he didn't feel anything odd.

"Let's get it started! And while you suffer, I'll teach you how to cleanse a strap-on, see~…"

_Shit._

Subaru suddenly heard a soft mechanical humming sound before two vibrators which were already spinning began to pump in and out of his ass at a maddening speed: he inwardly groaned as he felt how Kanaya stuffed the strap-on lubricated with semen on his mouth.

_D-devil! This thing has a piston which is continuously pumping into you at a set pace and it never tires out! They weren't kidding: this thing can drive you mad alright! But I gotta hold on!_

"Heh, heh, heh. It fits you, Hoshikawa~… That struggling and agonizing form… How the mighty have fallen!"

_Tell that to your petty Master._

"Heh! This is more than enough payback for what happened in the 2nd Battle of Omicron." Kurayami sneered.

_What can you expect from an enemy born from a Mu experiment which resulted in a program of "Dark" capable of copying the shape of other Denpa Bodies? It then evolved in personality and perception and decided it was better off being my antithesis. Blood isn't my antithesis. He was supposed to imitate me back when "Operation: Independence"…_

CRASH!

"Found you, scum."

"Fuck. Burai!"

"By all the…"

"No way!"

_Burai! Guess the others told you what was going on: and since you're from Mu then maybe you could "sniff" these two villains._

"Go, Laplace!"

"Gruh! Shotgun…!" Kurayami began.

"Slow." Burai drily announced.

"Ugruck!"

"Shit. Pain _Bun_…!" Shinobi tried next.

"Slow."

"Grah! It bounced off a column and hit me from behind!" Shinobi cursed aloud.

"Sheesh! Take a step closer I cut this guy's neck!" Kanaya cursed as Subaru felt the tip of a knife on his neck's skin.

"I object."

"Wha! Where did the guy warp to? Behind? Gatling…!"

"Slow."

BLOF! THUD! CRASH!

"Fuck! You sunnuva…!" She cursed.

"And what if?" He didn't seem to give a cent for it.

"Sheesh! Whatever! We had enough of our fill! Let's flee, you lot!"

"Che! I'll remember this, Burai~!"

"Let's just move out! Next time we'll have a strategy at hand!" Kurayami cursed as running rang out.

"Hmpf. Rats, the lot of them… Huh! Quick. Let's undo this!" Burai fumed before gasping.

He undid the bands tying Subaru's cock and took out the beads and vibrator: Subaru groaned and released in several spurts before stopping and panting: he felt how Burai took out the blindfold and he needed to blink for a while before getting used to the dim lighting: he felt Burai quickly cutting the ropes and lifting him out of the device: he was seated in the cold stone ground and leant on a wooden column: he heard Burai kicking the machine to the ground and then smacking it with the Laplace Blade several times in a row.

"Akatsuki? I found him. Yeah. He seems to be in one piece, luckily enough… You did well on contacting me. Those two dogs can't hide their "Mu scent" from Laplace so easily." He reported.

"I owe you one." Acid Ace sighed in relief.

"Hmpf… Don't mind that. I've got a score to settle with those defectives, anyway." He shrugged.

"I'm 2 minutes away. We'll pick him and bring him to the HQ. Dr. Lartes should run a check just in case."

Subaru coughed and seemed to be shivering: Burai then glanced at a hole he'd made when entering and grumbled under his breath as if knowing what was going on: he searched around and a found a blanket tossed in a corner of the dimly lit room which he placed over Subaru: he looked absent and sluggish.

"Hoshikawa. Can you hear me?" He asked.

"Y-yeah… I feel… exhausted… I need to… nap…"

"Fine. Take a rest: we'll bring you to the Subspace HQ." Burai calmly nodded in agreement.

Subaru barely had time to nod when he suddenly fainted…

13:43 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Ugh… No more…! Grah…! You cowards!"

"Subaru? Calm down. It's me."

"M-Master…"

"In the end I decided to bring you to my mansion: I thought the environment would help relax."

"Kazimura Mansion… Been a while…"

"Sure. Omega did some cleansing. Boss decided to switch him back to joker mode because he looked like he was about to tear down all houses' doors to find the fleeing lot."

"B-B-B-B-Bertie~! I found a new seagull nest! They're flying to meet the sky-gulls!"

"Not with the seagulls again… Heh… Heh, heh, heh… Ah, the nostalgia!"

"Nostalgia? Heh. Guess so."

Subaru woke up on a bed inside of a wood-made room which had this bed, a brown wood desk, a chair, an adjacent bathroom and a window: the door was on the north wall close to the NW corner and the window was opposite it: the bed was left of the door.

"Yeah… The time I spent here as "Kazimura Albert" when "Operation: Independence"… I can still remember it… It was an adventure within the walls of this house, alright." He smiled.

Dr. Lartes was sitting in the chair which he'd placed next to the bed: Omega's voice had rang out earlier along with the scream of seagulls: there was the sound of him rushing up the stairs and he came in with a grin on his face and having a seagull nest on his hands.

"Ta-dan!"

"Omega. Put that back where it was. Don't be cruel to the seagulls."

"I'm being cruel to the earth-gulls."

"Patent those for some RPG game."

"Sure~! _Iinchou_ will buy me one to replace Mode~!"

He laughed and rushed out while Subaru rolled his eyes yet he seemed to picture the _scenario_.

"Mwah, hah, hah! Rolling rocking crushing terrors! BRAINSSS!" War Rock laughed close by.

"When those two get along then you can expect madness."

"Sure. And I wouldn't be surprised if Shirogane – san got a fit and decided to do that, either."

Subaru's Hunter – VG (placed atop the desk) began to ring so Dr. Lartes picked it up and activated the screen: a display of Luna's face showed up along with the word "PHONE" atop it: he pressed a button and it patched to show Luna.

"Subaru – kun! Where did you go off to?"

"Huh… I didn't feel well so I came over to Kazimura Mansion to rest for a bit… What happened?"

"Gonta ran off in a VERY suspicious manner!"

"How do you know that?"

"Kizamaro saw him rush out, transform, and go!"

"Maybe he went to buy food at Shiisaa Island?"

"Ah! That could be! The Fatman! Eluding my diet again!"

"If you impose it as a punishment then I doubt it'll have much effect to begin with, Shirogane – san."

"Ah! S- Subaru – kun's family medic, was it?" She gasped when she realized there was someone else there.

"Yes. Kazimura Lartes."

"What do you mean, sir?"

"A diet must be done with the intention of achieving it: not as something imposed by someone else. In short: it feels like it's something you can't really abide since it is informal scolding."

"Ah! Hum. Well…" She trailed off.

"I saw it coming." Mode sighed.

"Why didn't cha tell me, Mode?"

"I tried. You played deaf."

"Ki~h!"

"No good." Dr. Lartes sighed.

"Green tea! I need some green tea! By my might!"

The call got abruptly cut and Subaru sighed along with Dr. Lartes upon seeing Luna's behavior.

"Doc! The Doctrine of Doc is ready~!"

"Save the lame puns for the mirror, Omega."

"Sure! Mirror, mirror! Who's the ugliest guy on Earth? Ushijima!"

"Oh come on."

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah! Subari~! Bertie~ wants to come outta the cupboard, ya see~!"

"Albert wasn't a split personality! It was my "self" without memories of the past! End of the tale, Rock!"

"And start of the 36 bells of doom!"

"That joke's running old. I still feel tired. Go do that somewhere, in the basement, for example." Subaru groaned and clasped his forehead with the right hand.

"You heard him! To the basement you go!"

"Roger! Let's go, Rock!"

"Ou! Let's go, my fella~!"

They heard Omega rushing up the stairs and there was a ping followed by a hum: Subaru frowned.

"Weird. It didn't make any noise back then."

"Hmmm… Maybe the sound-insulating inner covering has worn out with time… It's been two years, after all. It may need replacing." Dr. Lartes guessed.

DING DONG

"Who could it be? I'll go check." Dr. Lartes wondered when he heard someone ring the door-bell.

He looked out from the window after he'd stood up and then brought out his own Hunter – VG: he inputted a command and one of the front doors opened: Subaru heard someone climbing up the stairs and Misora came into the room while Dr. Lartes smiled at her and left, closing the door on the way out: Misora sat down on the chair.

"Subaru – kun… Are you alright?"

"Yeah. I am, Misora – chan. I'm strong."

"You went through that… for my sake… again."

"Again?" He frowned.

"Don't you remember? When Ice went berserk and froze the stage I was at, conducting my _live_…"

"Ah! You mean that I plunged into danger for your sake… Well… Isn't it obvious? You're my friend and my "Brother", Misora – chan. I wouldn't have come this far if I didn't protect my friends."

"I know. But nevertheless…"

"Well. But Misora – chan did her best to find me during "Operation: Independence", didn't she?"

"True. Yet… I can't shake off this feeling of guilt."

"Sorry to interrupt you but I got bad news. Queen Tia was approached by Kanaya and given the ability to Denpa – Henkan again. She's fled and we're trying to get a hold on her yet she found a way to elude being registered by the Satella Police." Dr. Lartes suddenly rushed in, sighing, and looking worried.

"Heck. As if it wasn't enough."

"We lowered the guard." Misora sighed.

"Indeed."

"Guess I'll have to walk with lead feet."

"Yes. You can't predict how Queen Tia will act. Or maybe she hopes to win by placing pressure on you."

"That would fit with her character, too. Heck. As if bearing with her threat wasn't enough, now this…" Misora rolled her eyes.

"Maybe we can provide you with a shield or barrier strong enough to block or bounce back one or two strikes and give you the chance to get to safer ground? I don't think she'll jump into the open in places with witnesses… Maybe she hopes to wait for a place and moment…"

"If only Jack could take some sense into her…!" Subaru groaned.

"Rest, Subaru. Take the day off today. Tomorrow you'll be fresh enough to attend classes." Dr. Lartes ordered.

"Yes, Master…!"

"Hmmm… Maybe I can request of Blood Shadow to provide backup in case I were to end up in a tight spot…" She suggested.

"Good. I'll talk it with Boss: we need to prepare a strategy. And the sooner the better, truly."

"Yes, Master… Heck. What a November!"

The group of three sighed in defeat, overwhelmed.

_We need to put stop to those mad ones out there or else…! Shit!_


	5. Chapter 5: Fright

**Chapter 5: Fright**

08:58 AM (Japan Time), Monday November the 4th…

"… Good morning."

"Ou! Subaru! You alright? You looked tired."

"Y-yeah. I'm alright."

"Guess he trained too much."

"Subaru – kun! You can't tire out Rock Man – sama!"

"Gimme a break, _iinchou_~!"

"Huff. _Iinchou_… She should try to be more rational!"

"Totally."

"Shirogane – san!"

"Ah! Y-yes, _sensei_?"

"Come to the teachers' room after class. We need to talk."

"R-roger, ma'am."

"And stop harassing Hoshikawa – kun."

"R-roger, ma'am."

"I'll be keeping an eye out!"

Subaru sat on his classroom seat while looking tired: Gonta looked surprised, Kizamaro shrugged, Luna showed up in front of him to keep on with her manias, Subaru groaned, Tsukasa sighed and Kiboyama rolled his eyes: the teacher called out to Luna and she gulped.

"Alright! Take out your notebooks and let's begin the Chemistry class."

"Roger."

Everyone took out their notebooks and textbooks and began to write down the teacher's explanations…

09:13 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Mwah, hah, hah. The Return of Howling Wolf!"

"Will you quit it with that silly nickname, man?"

"Che! Messing around again. This jerk!"

"That's a cool guy talking, Ogami Juurou!"

"So what?"

War Rock showed up in the roof of Kodama Elementary to pull a motto on Wolf and Ogami Juurou which they didn't like in the least: War Rock grinned while both grumbled in annoyance.

"So! Wolf! Are ya gonna slice and dice those punks?"

"Who knows?" He shot back.

"I'm busy." Ogami grumbled.

"Designing an aberration with those gardening scissors?"

"I'm about to get annoyed for real."

"Get out already."

"Fine! But one day I'll beat ya in a rematch!"

War Rock warped into the Wave Roads and chuckled: he heard someone and turned around to see Goat Kung – Fu walking down the Wave Road while training.

"Well! If it isn't Goat. Been a while~!"

"Sa~h! Sure. Say, is your pal around?"

"Subari~? The guy's in school, see~…"

"Ah! I knew I was forgetting something." Yagi Kenta muttered.

"Well. No big deal. We can come again later."

"Guess that. I'll go train for a bit."

"Mwah, hah, hah. And you'll join the triangle to form a square~?" War Rock teased.

"What? I don't get the point of it. If there's any." He frowned and didn't seem to catch the point.

"Don't worry~! Ya only need to go try it out."

"I'd rather not involve myself into danger. I'll pass. Tell Subaru – kun I dropped by. I hope we can meet one day."

"Sure. And then the square will be completed!"

"Will you quit it with that joke? I don't see the point!"

"Ya will see it when ya go for it!" He kept on teasing.

"Jeez. I'm off. I'm starting to feel annoyed."

"Huff. You haven't withstood his lame jokes for years back in Planet FM, Kenta." Goat sighed.

"Yeah. I should be glad of it, actually."

Goat Kung Fu raced off and War Rock grinned as he entered the building of Kodama Elementary and spotted the FMian Cancer training against Viruses in a corner of the corridor.

"Yo. Cancer."

"Buku. It's War – Rock, buku. Whaddya want? Buku?"

"You're gonna wash over the ugly jerks!"

"Buku? What's the point of the joke?"

"Figure it yourself! If ya can!"

"Buku! Insulting my intelligence? You'll regret it, buku!"

"Yeah! Ya and Hasami Chiyokichi will beat me?"

"Sure thing! Buku! Just you wait! Buku! He's a 6th grader already!"

"Oho. So he'll make ya solve the Math homework?"

"E~H?"

"Kidding! Mwah, hah, hah, hah."

"This guy! Buku!"

"Boil yer brains trying to solve square of 6!"

"It's 36! Buku!"

"Square root of 49!"

"7! Buku!"

"40 divided by 15!"

"2.66! Buku!"

"Man. So ya do know Math, eh? Unlike Ox!"

"Buku! Ox is a different tale, buku! The guy only thinks of setting fire to everything, buku!" Cancer protested.

"Fine! Then I'll go challenge the jerk! See ya~!"

"T-this JERK! BUKU~!"

War Rock chuckled as he returned to Kodama Middle and found Ox training in the rooftop's Wave Roads: War Rock grinned, picked a Mettolio, and tossed it at him from behind: the Mettolio stuck on his back and began to hit the head with the pickaxe: Ox growled and pulled it out before tossing it at the ground.

"War Rock! You rascal! I know it's ya! Showdown!"

"Ya called, Toro~?"

"Toro! Me! I'll give you a lesson, you Claw Man wannabe!"

"Wha~t? Claw Man wannabe~? Me~? There's only one Claw Man!" War Rock got a twitch over the right eye.

"And that's ya! Hah!" Ox folded his arms.

"T-this JERK!"

"Showdown! Buro~!"

"Ya asked for it!"

"Wait, wait! You two! Go to an isolated spot or else you'll wreck the whole rooftop!" Storm rushed towards them to halt them.

"Yeah. Like Storm said. Go to the Cosmo Wave." Miles fumed as he joined Storm in stopping them.

"Fine! Moon Ace is the witness!"

"Moon Disaster!" The three of them corrected.

"No! Acid Disaster and Moon Ace! Mwah, hah, hah!"

"T-this JERK!" They got annoyed.

"Bite my shiny jaw~!"

He rushed out towards the Cosmo Wave Warp Point: the guys fumed and gave chase while Pedia and Mode looked on with defeated looks on both of them.

"The madness strikes back, Pedia - san." Mode sighed.

"True, Mode."

"Whoosh! Hey! Dudes. Been a while."

"Hey! Been a while, too! Sssh!"

"Oh. Magnets & Coil. Is Kino Manabu – san alright?"

Magnets & Coil, Wizards of Kino Manabu, showed up while grinning and both greeted them.

"Sure! The Science Club is as active as always! The Chief is always coming up with some new project! Oosh!" Magnets grinned.

"Drop by whenever you want to! Sssh!" Coil invited.

"Delighted. Let's go check it out, Mode."

"Perfect! Let's go, Pedia."

10:40 AM (Japan Time)…

"… UA~H!"

"What was that? Security?"

"A suspicious character who was trying to force their way in by claiming to be a plumber but I had no record of any plumbers being called. His behavior was odd to. So I activated the "Noised Wizard" 3D image to scare them away."

"I see."

Urakata had been discussing something with the Okudama Studios receptionist when a yell rang out from the outside so he brought out his Hunter – VG and talked with the Guard Wizard: he didn't seem to be too surprised at the news.

"Oh. A young lady is coming… Excuse me. Do you have an invitation or were you authorized to come?"

"I only want you to deliver a message." A familiar voice replied.

"Huh? Well. No problem. What's the message?"

"Time and patience shall reward me. That's all."

"Wait… Show me imagery of the visitor!" Urakata whispered.

"Roger."

A screen turned on to reveal that the "visitor" was Queen Tia who had her usual cold and unemotional face and look: Urakata gasped and quickly dialed a number.

"Good morning."

"Huh… Good morning."

"Satella Police? The escapee is here! Mobilize someone! Okudama Studios, yes!" He quickly reported.

"By all the… I'm on my way!" Shidou grumbled in the background.

"Luckily Misora is inside so I don't think there'll be trouble… Maybe we should install security sensors in the Wave Roads…"

"… Oh. A Satella Police member has showed up." The Wizard reported next.

"Imagery!"

"Roger."

The new imagery showed Queen Tia calmly folding her arms as Acid Ace stood in front of her while panting.

"Queen Tia! You're under arrest for breaking the clauses of your conditional freedom!" He announced.

"Oh?" She merely lifted the right eyebrow.

"You're coming to the Satella Police HQ, like it or not."

"Someone might object."

"Who, Kanaya? Let her come! I'll beat her too." He grumbled.

"No. I shall object. Denpa – Henkan."

"What!"

Queen Tia calmly drew her Hunter – VG and performed Denpa – Henkan to become Queen Virgo: she aimed her staff at Acid Ace's feet and the "Hydro Dragon" shot out from below his feet and skywards as if it was a geyser: Acid Ace warped and appeared behind her: he drew his Long Sword and made a cut to her body armor's back which she didn't seem to mind: the "Hydro Dragon" suddenly plunged into Acid Ace from above and because there was an "Ice Panel" beneath him then he got trapped in a mass of ice.

"Light of Saint."

She aimed the staff upwards as some columns of energy formed around her and spun clockwise, hitting Acid Ace several times in a row: Acid Ace growled and quickly shot a Plasma Gun at her but she didn't mind it.

"Stop it, Queen Tia!" Acid Ace growled.

"I shall not."

"Why do you need to do that?"

"To smash that annoying hypocrisy."

"Hypocrisy? Oh come on! You need to have your head checked."

"I do not. That child lies to others. She just wants fame and money."

"Money? Oh come on! She's not one of those snobby stars on her 20s or 30s, Queen Tia! Urakata there can tell you how many contracts she's shot down because she wasn't interested in money! You're the one who's using hypocrisy! You can't want to destroy her life just because you've got that caprice!" Acid Ace was exasperated by now.

"Who said I shall destroy her life? I shall merely show her that sins are punished sooner or later."

"Sins? Huff! You're the one making up moot excuses to harm her: and that's a crime no matter how you look at it! No loopholes will save you from court and prison, Queen Tia!"

"Time and patience shall reward me."

"That motto is overused by now."

"You men have never understood what patience means."

"Well, my bad!" He grumbled.

"Shidou. Do not get hooked into that or it will get worse. And our Denpa – Henkan will only last another 4 minutes. Maybe she is stalling for time to begin with." Acid warned to him.

"Sheesh."

"So. The computer can bite."

"I am not designed to process sarcasm." He calmly replied.

"Too bad. Speaker of political intentions."

"S-speaker of political intentions? Me?"

"This gal…!" Urakata grumbled.

"Now, who's the one getting carried away?"

"My apologies, Shidou."

"Companion dispute?" Queen Virgo taunted next.

"No. Spade Magnets X!"

Spade Magnets formed in the field and hit Queen Tia twice with his swords but she shrugged it off.

"Hum. So you can indeed bite, Akatsuki. And here I thought you could only bark." She wasn't impressed.

"Oh yeah? I feel praised." He wasn't amused in the least.

"Irony won't help you stop me, Akatsuki."

"Oh yeah? Then take this one for a chance! Stealth Laser X!" Acid Ace grumbled.

The Stealth Laser machine formed in the field and shot a string of bullets at Queen Tia yet she didn't flinch.

"Element weakness shall not let you win, either."

"If you want so badly to go play _femdom_ or _dominatrix_ then why don't you go to that club you were visiting?"

"All the women there are hypocrites who play along. It is not the real deal: the real deal means true pain and despair."

"Jeez. I'd never guessed you were so sadistic."

"It is better to be in control."

"Why? Did you get raped by a woman?"

"Hmpf. I talk too much."

"And since then you've wanted to take it out on Hibiki? Jeez."

"I cannot stand her face."

"Oh yeah? Why not? And don't come up with "makeup" because Hibiki almost never uses it. She's said in interviews."

"She looks like the one who dared to humiliate me, years ago…" Her voice had started to climb into cold anger.

"So THAT's your motive? Because she looks like the woman who raped you years ago?" Acid Ace gasped.

"By all the…" Urakata cursed.

"Indeed. And only by returning that humiliation I shall be free of her smug smile and her lust-filled face which has haunted me for years…"

"Then go find the woman! But don't take it out in Hibiki just because she looks like her! That's being selfish and cowardly."

"Coward? You called me a coward? A coward would have cried and broken down: I have withstood it for years. I am strong. And I shall get stronger. Until none can oppose me…"

"Sheesh. Now you're starting to sound like the "Ice Queen" we arrested 2 years ago. So you're going to have countless teens suffer out of caprice, greed and lust? Huh?" Acid Ace questioned.

"Who knows? I do not look too forward. I wait. And seek chances: that is all there's to it. Farewell."

"Oi! Wait!"

Queen Tia jumped into the air and vanished inside of a Noise Wave entrance which closed: Acid Ace snarled something and stomped the ground with his right foot out of frustration.

"Shit. Could things get worse than this?"

"Shidou. Calm down. Let's go report."

"Yeah. Urakata, don't lower the guard."

"Of course not. Heck." Urakata growled.

11:09 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Huff. Now what do we do, hakase?"

"Hum. Difficult question, yes. Guess we'll need to have a backup ready to cut off her retreat."

"We've posted WANTED notices already. She's dangerous. She could try to do the same to other children, too."

"Yeah. I wouldn't be surprised if she did. That gal…!"

Shidou was discussing with Dr. Yoiri and the Chief while Acid floated to his right: they were looking at the footage of the scuffle between Acid Ace and Queen Virgo while talking.

"So her so-called "motive" was this? Ah! What a child. I guess the event changed her but from there to becoming such a cruel child… War is horrible, yes." Dr. Yoiri sighed.

"And let's not forget about those 4!" Daigo warned.

"True. We should split in 2 teams which should handle each front, shouldn't we?" A Commando suggested.

"True, Ryuusuke. That's what we should do indeed. Akatsuki, you're in charge of Queen Tia. Maybe we can request Omega or Sigma to help you with the affair. Blood Shadow is assigned to provide backup in case Harp Note was to run into a tight spot." The Chief exposed.

"Roger." Akatsuki nodded.

"The Subspace and the other "Raid Troop" members should suffice to handle those 4. We've gotten news of Hyde selling secret technology plans to foreign powers and getting a lot of money… Those other 2 seem to prefer to hit different types of public services and create some commotion to flee before we can deploy agents into the scene." The Chief detailed.

"We should be careful: Hyde could drop by here." Daigo warned.

"True. That of August is still too fresh in our minds."

"At least we don't have any dangerous projects stored in the Main Computer anymore. Forgetting about Clock Genius almost caused a disaster." Dr. Yoiri sighed.

"And we relocated the "Noise Canceller" by splitting it into several pieces and distributing between different computers… He can't just come in and take it in one fellow swoop." The Chief added.

"That's a relief." Shidou muttered.

"Chief. Incoming line from the Subspace…"

"Vadous. Good. Let's discuss the strategy. Patch it."

"Roger."

A holographic image of Vadous sitting on his chair and giving the back to the control console was projected: he looked nervous or worried so it'd seemed he'd gotten a hold of the news already.

"I heard that Queen Virgo showed up in Okudama Studios. What happened?"

"I confronted her but she pulled a Noise Wave out of the blue to escape: we were now discussing how to distribute the manpower. We'd like for Sigma or Omega to lend me a hand in case she shows up again and we need to cut off her escape." Shidou told him.

"Alright. I think Omega will do better. If I allocate Sigma to dealing with the 4 then it'll be alright. He can handle them pretty well to begin with, anyway." Vadous nodded in agreement.

"We need to run searches in Queen Tia's and Jack's nation: she let out that a woman there raped her and that apparently she looks a lot like Hibiki so…"

"And that's her so-called "motive"? Sheesh. Then we better find that woman and have her arrested. Maybe that will convince her that there's no need to chase that caprice anymore."

"I doubt it, but, well… We won't lose anything by trying it out."

"I know. I've got people who know those circles. And maybe our subject is smug enough that they haven't bothered to change their appearance or name or address, even."

"That could be the case, yeah."

"Yo! Boss! About to put on Hugo Boss?" War Rock laughed as he showed up above and behind Vadous.

"No. Get out." He got annoyed on the spot.

"Mwah, hah, hah. I beat the Sneaky Trio!"

"So what?"

"So I'm the ultimate Wizard!"

"Try beating Omega's serious mode."

"Sure thing! Mwah, hah, hah."

"Phew. Shook the guy off, somehow….! Anyway! We better begin searches soon enough. And if Queen Tia wants to be smug then maybe she's signed up as part of the staff of that club place and will be living there for the time being. We should try to have Jack approach her and try to argue with her once again."

"Yeah. Jack will surely want to once he gets a hold of this news: maybe he'll find a way to convince her. Or maybe if we find the criminal and leak it out to Queen Tia she'll go execute her payback on the criminal instead and will then forget about targeting Hibiki." Shidou suggested.

"They brought that into themselves so…" The Chief shrugged.

"There won't be legal repercussions." Dr. Yoiri didn't mind it either.

"Sheesh. Let's not forget how Hyde tried to steal the plans of Professor Shinaides' invention, that "portal" machine you have, Vadous."

"I know, Daigo – san. But now that they've been publically announced their black market value has gone down and Hyde won't bother to try to get them again if their value has gone down by 70%."

"Good point." Ryuusuke rubbed his chin.

"The weather-changing machines that that foreign nation used last winter as part of their "Operation: Cirrus"… They're totally unusable by now, am I right?" Shidou suddenly recalled.

"Totally. The massive amount of radiation overloaded them and fried them out. It's cheaper to scrap them and begin from the start that trying to repair them." Vadous nodded in confirmation.

"Good. Ah! The marine fortress thing…! Did you find it?"

"Damn it all. I totally forgot!" He slapped his forehead.

"So that's where they must be at." Acid deduced.

"Yeah. K & K announced it so openly, I'm sure of it. And the thing is so wide that both parties could have plenty of space for living and training or conducting experiments without needing to see each other face to face in the first place. Fuck. Excuse my wording." He growled.

"We're not perfect." Acid reminded him.

"I know. It's just this frustration… Anyway! I'll try to figure out how to detect that thing. But since it's designed for immersions of up to 300 meters then it'll be hard."

"True. If it's loaded with enough supplies then they could stay there for months yet they must need to come close to the surface in order to link with Wave Roads and be able to move out. So maybe they just keep it a few tens of meters deep, just deep enough so that it can't be seen from the air…" Acid suggested.

"Then that could make it easier to find… Maybe they've parked in the Bermuda area, even. Hyde could try to loot the Mu Continent again: by the way, has the 3rd OOPArt, Berserk, been found out?"

"Yeah. There was news of that in September. It's under study at an undisclosed location and it'll then be exhibited in a VIP exhibition under heavy security. The "theft" of the Dinosaur one is still fresh in the minds of the Roppondo Hills Museum Staff."

"Good. Then we must keep an eye there: we could allocate Wolf Forest there because he'd have elemental advantage over any electrical attacks Hyde could produce with the thing."

"That's a good idea, yeah. We'll note it down." Daigo nodded in agreement at the idea.

"Daigo – san! Daigo – san! The vending machine was uttering a curse, I swear it!" Utagai rushed in.

"Jeez. It was just saying "Iagatu" which is your own name spelled backwards, Utagai." Cygnus sighed.

"Ah! Is t-that so?"

"When will you stop being THAT superstitious?"

"G-good question… Huh… I apologize for intruding! I shall return to my duties, yes! I am sorry!"

"Utagai – chan…" Dr. Yoiri sighed.

"He won't change. At least he isn't so paranoid like in the past but by now he's turned far more superstitious." Shidou sighed.

"Good. Then we agree on it: I'll allocate Omega to work with you and keep him in "serious mode". This way you'll work better."

"Delighted. Let's hope we can solve this soon."

"Let's hope it, yes. We'll have to sweat."

Shidou took out one of his "Sweet Candy" and quickly munched it up as if to discharge the tension: he sighed in relief and stored the wrapping on the right pocket of his jeans.

"Good. We all agree. Back to work, everyone!"

"Roger, sir!"

"Hyde… You won't be laughing for much longer…" Vadous muttered.

"Of course not… Get ready, you script rascal! We're coming for you!"


	6. Chapter 6: Mistrust

**Chapter 6: Mistrust**

01:11 AM (Bermuda Time), Tuesday November the 6th…

"… Black End Galaxy~!"

"Mugro~h!"

"Huff, huff… Results!"

"Well. 00:18:33… Busting Level: 10."

"10? Well. I'm improving. Grave Joker is a tough opponent to beat."

"I didn't say it wasn't, Ku. Oh well. My own record is at 20:57 so I need some slight polishing. But at least we're regaining our battle potential little by little. We're back at 80% by now."

"Good. So we'll soon be ready for serious battles."

"Sure. I can't wait for it."

Kurayami finished training against a simulated Grave Joker and sighed in relief: Kanaya was standing close by and folding her arms as she checked a results screen: she sounded dull while Kurayami seemed to be somewhat cocky today.

"What's with the dullness?"

"I don't get cocky."

"Ah. True. We can't lower the guard: those two might be plotting to have us go down in shame now that we've fulfilled our "raison d'être"… Ah, true… Speaking of which… What about Queen Tia?"

"_Senpai_? Heh. She's bidding her time. A chance will come. It's better to leave her on her own. She's so prideful: she won't accept anyone's arguments or help. Not unlike that Burai rascal, back then."

"I know. Oh well. As long as it contributes to forcing them to split resources then… It's fine for us."

"Yeah. We gotta prepare a plan just in case." Kanaya warned.

"Even if it's them… Shinobi has some worrisome abilities as we could check back in the summer… But Phantom Black hasn't changed his abilities at all in all this time… The guy's readable and predictable when it comes to battling. The guy can't use the Meteor Server either. Shinobi can't either: only we two can. So we've got an advantage."

"But remember that we can't use it inside of this place unless we entered the Cyber World and "emulated" the Meteor Server. We've got no connection from here with Sirius' Black Hole Server."

"Good point. We mustn't get confident. The security sensors work as they should? Have those two moved from their self-allocated section, the southern section?" Kurayami asked.

"They haven't moved out. The A/C ducts are filled with them too and I placed some Viruses there too."

"Fine. At least we've got some security but we mustn't lower the guard nevertheless. They could try to come through some other opening to begin with."

"Yeah. It'd be good to keep our training up: and to prepare some powerful Folders to fit the opportunity…"

"Take a break. It'd be unwise for both of us to be tired at the same time: once you feel like you're ready to kick them up." She instructed.

"Good point. We don't want to provide those two with a chance to sneak on us. Speaking of which: did you make sure we're not being overhead by them?"

"I sweep the whole East Block every 3 hours. Insofar I found no surveillance device at all."

"Good. I'm off to resting. I'll download some news and see if the tension is still up: the higher the tension the better… It'll make them rush and move out in a sloppy manner…" He grinned.

"Sure."

"See ya, Ka."

"Later, Ku."

Kurayami stepped out of the cubical metallic room while Kanaya headed out into the corridor and walked eastwards until she opened an armored door into a room which had some servers built there plus a computer terminal the output of which was done with a Real Wave screen: she sat on the chair and typed into the Real Wave keyboard to bring up some images of Assassin Shinobi using different battle styles.

"Hum, hum. The guy's ability to create _bunshin_ could be worrisome. If they strike as once they can deliver up to 1500 damage with their Muramasa Blades so… And his love for poison techniques is dangerous too: at least our data is up-to-date thanks to one of our "Anti" who fought the guy a while ago…" She muttered.

She then inputted some other commands and brought up imagery of Omega in battle next.

"This guy's TOO much. Only Death was able to stand up to the guy and even Death had trouble with the guy's "Dark Messiah" mode: too bad Death isn't around anymore… He'd been able to give us some ideas on how to properly act… Oh well. What's done is done. No use crying over spilled milk." She sighed.

Her next input displayed footage of Sigma in action: she rubbed her chin with the right hand and looked in thought.

"High attacking power and high defending power… This guy's a tough nut to crack, sure thing. His body size and mass could be a weapon as well for all we know. We need to find a way around his shielding or else we won't come any close to scratching the guy. Next!"

The last set of images belonged to Blood Shadow: she formed a smug smile and looked amused all of a sudden.

"Brad Shad's debut! Tee, heh, heh, heh, heh! Oh well. The shotgun is worrisome! But let's not forget his Wave Battle skills either. Meh! We'll find a way to exploit their weak points."

_Tee, heh, heh, heh, heh, heh! Get ready, you folk! Ka has spoken! Hah!_

01:33 AM (Bermuda Time)…

"… Ah! So it was like it! The invaders came in just to witness the conclusion of the tragedy! What timing! Hah!"

"Hyde~… When will ya stop going over _Hamlet_ and preparing some plan or another? We're sitting ducks here: you can't hope to avoid their detection for much longer."

"Shoo, shoo! I'm inspired!"

"Crap. Here we go again."

"My Lord?"

"Shinobi! Good timing! Bring me Hamlet's skull!"

"E-excuse me~?"

"Don't mind it. Just some irony… Anyway. Collect info on the guys out there and we'll find a way to defeat them! And soon… Soon! I'll achieve ultimate power! Through the Berserk OOPArt!"

"Do you really think they're not expecting you to try to rob it?"

"What was that?"

Hyde had been pacing around an armchair set in a room decorated like an European mansion living room: Shinobi poked his head into the room and Hyde came up with some random order which made the guy gasp: Phantom sighed and looked fed up with the deal.

"_Kurutterru~_…" Assassin muttered.

"Huh… Guess he's somewhat maddening, yeah…" Shinobi whispered back to the Wizard.

"Huh? Did ya say something?"

"N-no! I'm on my way!"

He rushed out while Phantom seemed to foresee further trouble.

"They'll be waiting for you there, Hyde~…"

"Hah! That ex-Dealer woman will keep them busy!"

"Not forever. And they surely will try to allocate manpower so that they have enough for each front."

"Why do you need to be so critic?"

"'Cause I'm the reviewer?"

"Hum! The reviewer sent by the plebeian court of tabloids?" He directed a suspicious glare at him.

"W-what was THAT?"

"The truth!"

"Your reality distortion field, I'd rather say."

"W-WHAT? REALITY DISTORTION FIELD?" He uttered.

"Yeah. In short: you manipulate reality to find one which suits your ego and self-centering behavior."

"THIS DAMNED TABLOID LAPDOG!"

"Tabloid lapdog? Why don't you patent that for some fantasy & monsters RPG game?"

"Nya~h!"

He rushed out of the room and Phantom sighed in defeat: he opened a holographic screen and began reading some information on it while being seemingly defeated.

"Hyde~… Ya really need to accept reality. Not everything is gonna go according to your precious "scripts"… You lowered the guard back when you tried to steal the Ace PGM… I knew that it'd take more than one blow to defeat those 2 defenders but no~… You played deaf!"

"T-those TABLOIDS!" Hyde roared on the outside.

"Get a cold shower, man."

"JUST YOU WAIT! TABLOIDS!"

14:42 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Phew. Back to work after a good lunch… Sorry to bother you, Blood – kun, but you never know."

"Of course. And it's nothing. I'm always keeping an eye out while listening to news or researching stuff…"

"Hydro Dragon."

"Wha! See? They came out."

"Indeed."

"Here you are: no – one shall stop me now."

"Sensei, why don't you try to be rational?"

"Yes. Why don't you try to?"

"I don't need to. I'm the Queen. Nobody commands me. I have supreme authority."

"That sounds like a tyrant."

Harp Note and Blood Shadow had been travelling down a Wave Road and chatting when, suddenly, the "Hydro Dragon" showed up and both dodged: Queen Virgo appeared in front of them and both tried to talk but she was being arrogant.

"Why haven't you tried to find that criminal? If you want payback then deliver it to them." Harp Note told her.

"Nobody orders me."

"That's your pride speaking, sensei." Blood Shadow warned.

"What would a lying shadow know?"

"We sometimes have withheld information. But it was for safety reasons: and if you have a problem with that… Then tell it to Boss." Blood Shadow replied.

"To the world's shadow ruler."

"Oh please." He groaned.

"Some things are better off not knowing. _Need Not To Know_."

"What would a hypocrite know?"

"JEEZ! I'm fed up with that, ma'am! I'm no hypocrite! Tell it to those snobby and self-centered singers on her 20s or 30s! I don't need any fortune or make-up or weird hairstyles!"

"Pororon. Are ya sure Virgo isn't to blame?" Harp asked.

"Surely isn't. I'm sure sensei has been like this ever since she was in Dealer, anyway."

"Surrender. And then your suffering will be quick."

"And what if I don't?"

"Then your suffering will be eternal."

"I'm skeptical, ma'am."

"Hmpf. Plebeians…"

"Oh boy. Guess there's no other way around."

"Guess there isn't. And Elec attacks won't make her flinch either. We'll have to pack power and defense, Blood – kun."

"Roger."

"Come. And be defeated." She challenged while aiming the staff upwards towards the sky.

"Let's go! Wave Battle, Ride On!"

"Hmpf!"

Queen Virgo formed the watery shield to protect from attacking and Harp Note dodged the rain that fell down: Blood Shadow drew a Hyper Cannon Battle Card on his left forearm and shot it at Queen Virgo yet it was deflected: Queen Virgo then spun the staff and a shockwave of water rushed down the Wave Road towards Blood Shadow.

"Barrier!"

"Hmpf. Machine. Get out of my way."

"Machine or not I won't go down sans a fight." Blood Shadow wasn't taken in by the taunt attempt.

"Hmpf. So be it."

"Ma'am, be rational! If you wanted power to figure out whom that criminal was then… Why didn't you request of the Satella Police to try to locate her and arrest her for rape?"

"I do things my way. I shall not borrow help from plebeians. I just remained there to gain inside information. Which I have gathered and sold already… I am totally independent."

"What will Jack – kun think of this?"

"Jack? He is still a child. Let him grow like a child. He must learn not to become too dependent on me." She coolly replied.

"Huff. Machinegun String!"

"Fool. Hydro Dragon!"

"Charged shotgun shot!"

"Kyagh! You damned machine. From behind…!"

"Not like you were playing fair either, ma'am."

Harp Note shot her strings at Queen Virgo and attacked with the song notes: she wasn't affected by it and she summoned the Hydro Dragon which began to coil and advance: Blood Shadow warped behind her and discharged his built-in right forearm shotgun's barrels into her: she gasped and looked like she'd begun to get annoyed: Blood Shadow warped back at Harp Note's right.

"Don't lower the guard, Blood – kun. She still has to use her "Light of Saint" move… That's a tough one…"

"I know, Harp Note."

"You foolish plebeians… I shall destroy that hypocrisy!" She was clearly pissed off by now.

"Ma'am. Now who's the one letting emotions lead them ashtray?" Harp Note questioned.

"Che." She grumbled as if she'd realized she couldn't counter that.

"Even your ice seems to have a limit to how much heat it can withstand, ma'am, and it'd seem it's begun to melt and boil away." Blood Shadow politely warned.

"Queen Tia. Let's be rational." Vadous told her over Blood Shadow's radio band.

"You be rational and tell your so-called "allies" what really happened with Clock Genius."

"It's too delicate of a topic to let it out like that. It could have catastrophic consequences. Lucky for us Hyde was a fool and just he and Shinobi couldn't overcome all of the defenders…" Vadous grumbled.

"I don't care if the deal was far more complicated than you told me it was, Mr. Vadous. Like I said… Some stuff is better off not knowing!"

"Well said, Harp Note. Go all out."

"Galaxy Advance! Sword, Wide Sword, Long Sword! Giant Axe!"

"Light of…!"

Queen Virgo had warped and begun to float down into the Wave Road to unleash her "Light of Saint" attack but Harp Note was faster and could hit her with the Giant Axe: she made a grimace and clutched the point of the impact (more or less below the heart) with the left hand: her eyes now displayed pure unleashed anger.

"You damned plebeian…! Robbing me, the Queen, of my pride and honor…! One day you shall be on the receiving end! Even if I need to wait 15 years to pass…!" She hissed.

"Guess that's what she threatened to the sadist." Harp Note muttered.

"Charged shotgun shot!"

"Guah! So be it! I'll go get my payback on that woman first! And then you shall be next! HYPOCRITES!"

She suddenly formed the Break Count Bomb Giga Card and vanished as the bomb detonated and wrecked a large patch of the Wave Road: both Blood Shadow and Harp Note jumped away just in time to avoid it and landed in another part of it.

"Phew. At least she's going to go overseas for a while." Blood Shadow sighed in relief.

"It's too soon to feel relieved. Even if she gets her payback something tells me she won't give up on harming Harp Note so easily." Vadous warned him.

"Huff. She needs a cold shower."

"And to have her head checked." Harp muttered.

"Totally!"

"What do we tell Jack?" Blood Shadow asked.

"The truth. But I guess he's seen it coming, anyway."

"Guess that, yeah."

"Continue like you were."

"Roger. Let's go, Harp Note."

"Yeah. I don't want to get late. The recording for the new chapter of the drama series is about to begin and I need to memorize my lines before acting." She rolled her eyes.

"I'm sure you'll do your best." He encouraged.

"Oh, that? No! The only thing I hope is that they quit it with the "romance" hints… It's too _clichéd_."

"I'll have to agree with you on that. Pororon!"

17:37 PM (Japan Time)…

"… I see. So neechan ran off…"

"Or so she wanted to make us think."

"Ironic, huh, Akatsuki? That now it's neechan the one who lets emotions cloud her judgment…"

"I know."

Jack was talking with Shidou after he'd come out of class: Subaru was standing close by and listening too while looking worried over the conversation as well.

"Hmpf… Trouble showed up, huh?"

"… Solo."

A voice rang out close by and Subaru glanced at his right: Solo was leaning his back against a wall and folding his arms while keeping his eyes closed: he didn't seem to be surprised by the deal while Laplace hovered to his right and looked like he wasn't up to anything.

"Anyway… Thursday?"

"Thursday? Yeah. I have a chance."

"Fine. I'll be waiting at the usual place and time… Be punctual…"

"Don't worry, Solitaire Lucky~!" War Rock joked.

"What was that?" He got annoyed.

"Shut up." Subaru snapped to War Rock.

"It is not wise to invoke his anger." Acid dully pointed out.

"Ba~h! Claw Man! Go crawl across the savannah!"

"I am not Claw Man." He calmly objected.

"The Frenchman wants to date ya~!"

"What Frenchman?"

"Hmpf!" Solo fumed.

"Oh come on." Shidou groaned once he got the joke.

"I'll admit that Laplace is a very French – like name but that doesn't make him French. He's a Munian."

"Moonian! A cousin of Moon Ace~! Nyah, hah, hah, hah!"

"How original." Jack grumbled.

"Jack! You'll always be below Queen Tia in rank!"

"What was that? Well! I'm the lil bro, yeah. Do you mean that?"

"Nope! You're the Jack, she's the Queen and King's the King!"

"Trumps? Sheesh. I hate 'em. The decoration of the hideout always made me feel ill-humored and King's habit of constantly shuffling a Trumps deck didn't help either." He grumbled.

"Dealer is a name related to casinos and Trumps as well." Shidou pointed out.

"Oh yeah? I thought it meant someone who makes or creates a deal, hence "Dealer"…"

"Normally… It does mean that. But in a casino context it means "card dealer", the player or staff which shuffles and gives out the cards to the other players… AKA "_croupier_"…" Acid listed.

"Hmpf. So King was both the "King" of Trumps and the "Dealer" of the "Casino"… Smug bastard, alright." Jack fumed.

"Stealing a Mu device as well… Hmpf. Let them be swallowed in endless Noise…" Solo spat.

"Sure. The guy had it coming. Besides: not like he was being original since he was imitating Dr. Orihime. Say! What's become of her?"

"Oh, her? After her surrender she's been working in community hours to produce new devices which would be helpful to everyone: our current Real Waves were partly developed by her."

"I see. And Heartless – san?"

"She moved to Ameroupe and is working on some new anti-Noise measures with the WAXA branch there… She does drop by from time to time to request a hand with some system or another…"

"YO! YO! YO! Moon Ace's 12 hours-long extravaganza~! Sponsored by the Moon Foundation!" Moon Disaster exclaimed from everyone's Hunter – VGs at the same time.

"Rock…!"

"Oi. That wasn't me. I'm still here!"

"Then… Sigma or Omega – san's joker mode…"

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah. Tremble, rumble!" Sigma's voice laughed.

"SIGMA~!" Omega roared.

"Y-YIKES! S-Sir Omega, sir!"

"NYA~H! YOU MORON! YOU PISSED ME OFF! REGRET IT NOW!" He roared next.

"R-run for it, Moonie~!"

"Yearg~h!"

"Fuck. The madness is coming back. I'm going back to the Bermuda Labyrinth. I've felt those lowlifes' scent there too often to be a coincidence: their hideout must be parked there." Solo grumbled as he drew his Hunter – VG.

"Do as you like." Subaru invited.

"I know. Let's go, Laplace."

"Ra… Mu…"

"What? Eat hot-dogs? Sheesh. Don't peek into the spam inbox." He fumed at Laplace's behavior.

"Yu…" He sounded disappointed, even.

"Denpa – Henkan."

Solo transformed into Burai and warped away: the rest of the guys sighed and Subaru glanced at the slightly cloudy skies.

"Feels like it, alright… A depressing day…"

"Oi, Hoshikawa… That's unlike ya…" Jack told him.

"I know. I'm not perfect. I have my down times, too."

"Hmpf. Guess that. Oh well. If I find neechan I'll keep on trying to talk some sense into her but… Huff."

"You can't give up without trying." Shidou told him.

"Guess that, Akatsuki… I'm off. See ya tomorrow."

"By the way… What's with Gori Monjirou?"

"Ah! The guy whom Hyde lent the Mu Denpa Body "Yeti"… He keeps on with his businesses but he's being monitored anyway…"

"Those secretaries had such bad… fashion taste, really."

"More like they didn't have any and wanted to appeal as Yakuza to begin with…" Shidou began to munch a "Sweet Candy".

"You never have enough of those, Shidou?"

"You know, Acid. They're a bargain!"

"Huff."

"Mwah, hah, hah. Super Sweet Candy Man!"

"Oh yeah? Go patent that." Subaru challenged.

"Sure thing! See ya!"

"And Kyuu Demazaki got his lesson or…?"

"Ah! The guy in Dorambura Village, right? Yeah, I know. He made up that whole "Dossy" tale to get higher audience ratings… It'd seem he's gotten his lesson for the time being, yeah… The host of "Brachio"…"

"Should we get moving as well, Shidou?"

"Sure. There's some stuff pending tackling. See ya, Subaru."

"Good-bye, Akatsuki – san."

Subaru headed back to his home while sighing and looking worried or like his humor was gone.

_We gotta put a stop to the whole deal before it gets maddening: at least Kanaya doesn't seem to be interested in attacking Misora – chan and they already got me so they won't be coming from that angle again: the real problem is how we'll handle sensei from now on._

"I'm home."

"Oh, dear. You look down."

"Too much crazy stuff going on, mom… I'll be on my room."

"Alright."

Subaru stepped home and switched his shoes for the slippers: Akane looked concerned on seeing his face so he sighed and walked across the living room before heading upstairs into his room: he sat down on the chair while leaving the backpack on the ground to his right: he glanced at an open cupboard where he had his usual clothes hanged there: he searched inside of his shirt and drew the pendant.

"This pendant… I still remember how it was the key to receiving my first power… The "Star Force"… From Pegasus… Star Force Pegasus… Then, during the Mu Continent affair… Rock swallowed "Dinosaur"… And then during the Meteor G crisis I got the "Ace PGM" from Akatsuki – san… But that aside, what allowed me to come so far was… bonds. Brother Bands, friendship…!" He seemed to be reflecting.

"Subari~! B-B-B-B-Bertie~ is gonna outshine ya~!"

"… Heh. Guess I need one of those jokes from time to time or else I get way too gloomy… I need to look on forward with optimism."

_We'll find a way out this mess… As always…! Get ready, villains!_


	7. Chapter 7: Spicy Spica

**Chapter 7: Spicy Spica**

18:02 PM (Japan Time), Thursday November the 7th…

"… Sweets at good price, sweets in offer!"

"Beware of sweets! Have your teeth checked! First visit, 50% discount!"

"New customizable Hunter – VG skins! 25% discount!"

"…who happened to find her biggest idol in the midst of the street and then…!"

"…kick from Lucas! Bill caught it! Shigeru kicked it again and…!"

"…yes, shoes, shoes! The eternal dilemma, dear!"

"Heh, heh, heh. What unsuspecting lot!"

"Why don't cha sweat for a bit? And no armored shutters are gonna stop us, by the way~!"

"Let's go! Boom!"

"Bang!"

"Kya~h!"

"Uo~h!"

"Emergency! Emergency!"

People were going up and down in Spica Mall while chatting: the stores began to broadcast adverts but, suddenly, Kurayami and Kanaya showed up by exiting a Noise Wave and began to shoot at wild: everyone ran off and panic ensued: the security shutters fell down as well but they didn't seem to mind that.

"Buruo~! Ox Fire~!"

"Giza Wheel!"

"Hmpf! The "Raid Troop" showed up, Ku."

"As predicted, Ka!"

Ox Fire and Acid Ace rushed in while attacking but neither of them seemed to be surprised by their appearance on the scene.

"So! Akatsuki! Did ya get told to mop the flat by _senpai_?"

"Who knows?" He calmly replied.

"So! Ushijima! Did ya become Ramenjima?"

"W-WHA~T? BURO~!" He got annoyed.

"Gonta! Calm down, man!" Acid Ace sighed.

"Huh! S-sorry, Akatsuki – san!"

"Tee, heh, heh. Not bad, Ku."

"Thanks for the praising!"

"Buro~! Fight!"

"Don't get cocky, Gonta~…" Acid Ace sighed.

"How about we treat ya to some spicy Spica~?"

"Spicy Spica~? Spica Mall's trademark spicy burger?" Ox Fire gasped and seemed to get eager to taste it.

"GONTA~!"

"YIKES! S-SORRY~!"

"Companion dispute, eh?" Kanaya mocked.

"Ox Tackle!"

"Ugrack! This savage!"

"Wing Blade!"

"Kyah! This pervert!"

Both "Raid Troop" members suddenly attacked: Ox Fire tackled Kurayami and had him crash against the shutter, making a dent on it: Acid Ace shot forward with his jets and did the same to Kanaya.

"Sheesh. So it's become interesting!" Kurayami grumbled.

"It'd be boring otherwise."

"Let's go~! Mad Vulcan X!"

"Hyper Cannon!"

"Burning Punch!"

"Wide Wave!"

Both villains drew Battle Cards and counter-attack: Ox Fire punched the ground and formed 4 spiraling pillars of fire which popped out from different spots: Kurayami barely dodged being burnt by one while Kanaya got hit by the Wide Wave as she dodged another: both grumbled and attacked again: Acid Ace quickly dodged and Ox Fire withstood the rounds without flinching.

"Heck. I forgot. Super Armor!" Kurayami cursed.

"Sheesh." Kanaya fumed.

"Oi! Not like I'm perfect!"

"I didn't mean that, Bond wannabe."

"B-Bond wannabe~? Me~? Oh come on! Ka!" He groaned.

"About to divorce, eh?" Acid Ace taunted.

"Buro~! Guess that." Ox Fire chuckled.

"T-these JERKS!" Both snapped.

"So what? Like that'll help you win."

"We've got other tricks ready, Akatsuki! Dynamic Wave!" Kurayami smirked.

"Elemental Cyclone!"

"Shit. I forgot about that!"

"T-trouble~!"

Both villains' attacks hit the combatants: Ox Fire was washed over and he hit the southern armored shutter while groaning: Acid Ace was hit several times in a row by the cyclone and kicked away to crash-land inside of the sweets store.

"Have fun in Wonderland, Akatsuki! Alice wants to play with ya!" Kanaya mocked.

"T-this gal…!" He grumbled.

"Is in charge! Of the situation! There! Noise Cluster!"

A cluster of "Noise" formed and created a door-like obstacle which trapped Acid Ace inside of the store.

"Now then! Fatman! You lose!" Kurayami smirked.

"Not so fast! Muro~h! Sigma Sword!"

"Fuck."

"Shit!"

Both barely dodged the strike from Sigma's sword as he jumped down from above and hit the ground with it: they put some distance between them and Sigma as he lifted the sword.

"Sigma on the scene!"

"Sheesh. I thought this guy would be chasing Shinobi." Kurayami grumbled aloud.

"Guess Omega got put in charge of that. We can handle this big guy, anyway, Ku. Let's use our strategy." Kanaya calmly ordered.

"Fine."

"Come at full power!" Sigma challenged.

"You'll regret it, brute! Drill Arm X!"

"Drill Arm X!"

"Crap. Breaker…! Demon Fire!"

Both enemies drew the Drill Arm Battle Card and jumped for Sigma: his eyes flashed and he formed two lasers which travelled across the ground below both enemies' legs (because they were running at him): a row of flames popped out and both instinctively jumped into the air but Sigma swung his sword's edge and hit them on the waist area: the blow knocked them out of the air and into the ground (the flames had already dissipated) yet they quickly recovered.

"Close!" Kurayami hissed.

"Bah! Same trick won't work twice!" Kanaya fumed.

"Make way for the Super Hero~! Wing Blade~!"

"What!"

"Ox Tackle!"

Acid Ace suddenly ran out of the store by shattering the exhibit window glass while tackling Kurayami along the way because he wasn't expecting an attack from his left: Ox Fire recovered and tackled Kanaya (who'd been about one meter forward from Kurayami) to have her hit the shutter again: Kurayami managed to use his hands to try to stop the Wing Blade attack but he was thrown into the lower level of the mall: Acid Ace jumped down and drew his Long Sword.

"Sheesh. Too much for us! Let's pull out, Ka!"

"Hmpf! Fine! There'll be other chances!"

A Noise Wave opened behind each one and quickly closed: Break Count Bombs were left in their spot and the 3 defenders quickly destroyed them before they could go off: they sighed in relief.

"Phew. We managed to force them to pull out."

"Buro~! Huff. We gotta be careful with these guys or next time they'll drive us into a tight spot!" Ox Fire warned.

"Sure thing, Ushijima…" Sigma grumbled.

"Let's go back to the Satella Police HQ."

18:29 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Hmpf. So you can keep a straight face."

"Isn't it obvious?"

"Hmpf. Guess that."

"I know you're only doing it because it makes you feel "slightly" amused: I didn't expect anything less than that."

"So I'm becoming readable, eh?"

"Guess that."

Subaru was lying face-up on a bed inside of a hut somewhere and looking at the ceiling while placing both hands behind his head: the blankets covered up to his neck's base and Solo happened to be lying at his right while folding his arms and looking smug: Subaru didn't seem too surprised to begin with.

"Heh. First I had enough with haying you sit in front of me and try to get excited enough to release but lately… Heh! I wanted to increase the level and test you out… I still remember your face of disbelief during the 1st Omicron visit when I told you that you could be "interesting" later on as well…"

"No wonder."

"Hmpf. So my dullness ended up sticking around, eh?" Solo guessed as he glanced at Subaru.

"Not like you did it on purpose. You're who you are. End of the tale: no need to beat around the bush." He didn't lower his sight.

"With a metal rod?"

"How original."

"Hmpf. I felt like it…"

"At least we sent both Rock and Laplace to compete in the Black Hole Server: they won't be annoying us for a while."

"Meanwhile, in a while~…"

"Are you sure their joke manias aren't sticking to YOU instead?" Subaru got annoyed.

"Huh! Huh… Well…" He trailed off, for once.

"Lovely." He sighed.

"Oh come on. Not like that's gonna be the world's end."

"I know. But I wanted someone serious around to keep things controlled to some extent."

"Hum. You've got a point there."

"So? Did you figure out anything?"

"Sure I did. I found the fortress thing and did some reconnaissance while the defective experiments were busy stirring up trouble in Spica Mall: the fool was there engrossed with _Hamlet_… And bragging about the "Phantom Chaos"… In short…"

"I know. They appear, hit, and vanish into the nowhere. Like phantoms or ghosts. Hence the name."

"Hmpf. Totally lame."

"Wasn't that obvious from the very start, anyway?"

"Well. I did some more scouting: Shinobi wasn't there so I don't think they detected me anyway. I planted several programs to allow us to know their current location as long as they don't go deeper than 250 meters: that's the limit of any signal." He explained.

"Good. We owe you one."

"Bah. Don't mind it. I've got plenty of scores to settle with those fools, anyway. No big deal."

"And despite what you said before you did lend me a hand…"

"Yeah. I know. The Crimson Machine deal… I just wanted to use you."

"Yeah. Use me to blow them up and then you'd take care of the leftovers which you did: deleting Corvus and Virgo when they didn't want to change sides and tried attacking Jack and sensei."

"Hmpf. What did you expect of such lot? With fame of being hi-rank criminals and all…"

"I know. They should've seen it coming too. Guess they didn't really realize the possibility."

"Hmpf. Fine. Let's settle it there. The past is the past: now let's get back to the present."

Solo suddenly loomed over Subaru who merely lifted the right eyebrow: he grinned and did something under the blankets but Subaru didn't seem to mind it in the first place: Solo began to move and Subaru merely seemed to follow his pace.

"Heh. So ya can keep it, the straight face…"

"Of course I can."

"So you don't feel angered at what happened the other day?" Solo questioned.

"No. I'd seen it coming ever since the summer, anyway. It happened and that's all. I wasn't going to let it shatter me to pieces like what happened to my two friends back then. And holding into grudges or anger won't benefit anyone."

"Hmpf. True… Too bad I didn't get to beat that guy…"

"Kuroban, you mean? Yeah. I'd liked to do that too. But the guy is out of our reach and surely forever… Oh well. What's done is done: let's forget the guy and Hikaru and focus on the matter at hand."

"What will you do with that woman?"

"Sensei? Huff. She'll be arrested for breaking her surveillance liberty, no doubt about it. Let's hope she spends some time overseas."

"I don't see that woman as the type to…"

"…give it up so easily? I know. We haven't lowered the guard either: she could've been playing along with the circumstances to make us believe she'd seen our point."

"Right. That's what I was gonna say."

"Why don't we quit the gloomy talk and try to be positive and constructive instead?"

"Fine. So? What do you think of my style?"

"Classical."

"Hmpf. Guess that."

"But if you feel like it and I have a chance… It's not a bad way to shake off some stress, either."

"True… I'm going off."

"Go off."

Solo seemed to release inside of Subaru and chuckled: he then slid down a bit and then lowered his head to begin licking Subaru's right nipple: he let out a small groan and Solo grinned as he licked his left nipple next: Subaru couldn't avoid letting out another small groan.

"So this turns you on, eh?"

"Yeah. Satisfied?"

"Plenty. I'll have fun trying to break your straight face."

"Be my guest."

"Heh, heh."

Solo began to rub the left nipple with his left hand's thumb and index finger while he slid the right hand beneath the blankets and began to do something: Subaru groaned and seemed to be turned on by whatever Solo was doing right now.

"Rubbing my penis so fast…! And the nipple…! You're sneaky!"

"Yeah… Sneaky Solitaire~…"

"Be serious!" He growled.

"Fine. Since that annoys you so much…"

"Doesn't it annoy you too?"

"Most of the time. About 95% of it."

"And the remaining 5% amuses you, huh? Jeez."

"I'm a cocktail: a mix of various ingredients." He smirked.

"At least you're not as random as the Joking Club."

"Hmpf. Of course not. I'll just clever mottoes."

"Do as you like. But don't try to drive me to exasperation or this will end up badly for both of us, Solo."

"I note the warning."

"Fine."

"So let's speed this up… And heat it up… Here!"

Solo moved upwards and Subaru gasped: he began to moan more than before and looked like he couldn't keep his straight face for much longer at this pace: Solo came closer and seemed to be having fun with watching his face.

"Yeah… You're totally turned on by now… That's what I wanted to see: how I wash away your pride…"

"Che… You're one sneaky guy."

"Of course."

Solo pulled the blankets and covered both of them: Subaru's muffled moans kept on ringing out along with a chuckle by Solo.

"TOO sneaky, even!"

"Heh, heh, heh. Let's have some fun, Hoshikawa. Heh, heh, heh."

18:51 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Found you. Neechan."

"… Jack."

"Why won't you accept that they've got a point?"

"I don't need to do, Jack."

"You need to! Or else you'll become a mere criminal!"

"Not a "mere" criminal… Someone different."

"Don't come at me with loopholes, neechan."

"What would a child like you understand?"

"But!"

"Hmpf."

Jack found Queen Tia close to the entrance stairs of Shiisaa Castle and tried to reason with her yet she was being cold and didn't look like she wanted to be constructive.

"Do you think our parents would be glad of what you'll do?"

"Our parents are gone, Jack. We must fend off by ourselves."

"I know that! But think about it! They wouldn't be glad: seeing their child becoming such a cold and hostile person…!" Jack argued.

"So what?"

"Don't try to elude the topic, neechan! If you want to have your payback on that woman back in our nation then go ahead… But you can't harm Hibiki out of caprice! No loopholes or word-play will save you from being sentenced!" Jack whispered to her.

"I'm not afraid. I'll find a way out."

"Please!"

"No, Jack. I won't have enough with mere payback…"

"If you want to humiliate that woman or something like that then I've got no objection but… You can't harm Hibiki! I'll insist!"

"You're bothersome, too."

"I'm trying to help you!"

"I don't need anyone's help. I'm the Queen."

"But the Queen's got advisers and helpers and all, right? I'm sure Mom and Dad had them! They always have had helpers and advisers across the ages!"

"More like hypocrite servants…"

"Wait a min… You're not going to tell me that "THE woman" was part of the staff! A jealous maid?" He gasped.

"… And what would you do if it was? Tell Akatsuki?"

"Of course! So that they can arrest that woman and have her be trialed, see…!"

"What evidence would they use? I won't declare anything in a court: I have no need for those plebeian things."

"Plebeian or not, a court is a court! Neechan!"

"They will surely only force them to pay some money and that'll be all: they'll get away with it."

"You're just being pessimistic!"

"It's better to be pessimistic in some aspects. And, Akatsuki… I know you're using Jack as your proxy."

"Akatsuki isn't using me as proxy, damn it! I came of my own will, neechan! We're sister and brother!"

"So it'd seem."

"What? Oh come on! Don't try to shoo me away, neechan!"

"More like have you give up."

"I'm not going to give up! You gotta be reasonable!"

"And what if I don't? Will you stop me?"

"If it comes to that end then I will!"

"Fine. I'd like to see you trying." She shrugged.

"Do you remember the name?" Jack tried asking.

"I haven't forgotten. And by the way… Try looking elsewhere." She began to walk away.

"What do you mean?"

"Oh well. That woman was a traitor within the palace sent by one of the invading nations: she bragged about it. I remember it all too well. "The 22nd century's Mata – Hari"… Let's see who will find her sooner: me or you… Good-bye, Jack…"

She vanished out of sight and Jack sighed: he drew his Hunter – VG and looked at Shidou's face, who nodded in agreement.

"So this is what she wants. A race to see who finds that woman first: this won't be as easy as we thought but… We won't know unless we try it out, anyway."

"I know, Akatsuki… I'm heading to my place."

"Yeah. We'll start some preliminary searches… If we could find some survivor of the palace staff then that could become a very decisive lead: maybe some records survived the invasion…"

"Let's hope so."

"We can't give up until the very end!"

"… Heh. I know." He formed a weak smile.

"Queen Tia… What must I do to make you regain happiness?"

"We cannot know." Acid drily warned.

"I'll find out how…! And help you regain happiness…!"

19:04 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Where'd you gone off to, Ka?"

"Tee, heh, heh. Oh. I had an idea."

"Oh yeah? What it's about?"

"My bad. But it's not a battle plan or a raid… It's just a lil random idea I got and I began some arrangements…"

"Hum. Well. Do as you like."

"I know. Did you check that those 2 aren't spying on us?"

"I did. And I did scan my own body to make sure the guy didn't rig anything on us… I didn't find anything which could interfere with the Meteor Server, our armors or our basic strength…"

"Fine. I'll do one next. You never know."

"And I don't trust the looks of it: the whole "engrossed with _Hamlet_" behavior might be a smokescreen to invite us to get cocky, confident and to lower the guards."

"Good point, Ku."

Kanaya returned inside of the hideout: Kurayami was sitting in an armchair and looking at an "Air Display" showing some movie or another when she stepped into the living room and sat on the armchair to the right of his: she looked in a good mood as Kurayami began to explain what he'd been doing.

"We wouldn't have come this far if we weren't ready: we were ready when Death got beaten and we rushed back here before they could begin to organize a chase. And luckily they thought we'd died back in the summer with that explosion thing…"

"Sure. Oh well. Even if we end up in that place again… We'll find a way to get out… If _senpai_ and Jack could, we can as well."

"Hmpf. I like that better, yeah."

"Did you check that we're not being listened in?"

"I did, Ka. No surveillance device or program reported any abnormalities to begin with. And I did re-check them myself too to make sure that they hadn't been tampered with."

"Good work. Oh well. Guess I can relax this evening and try to come up with some battle plan as well."

"Yeah. I trained a bit more and I now feel at 100% power… Ready to take on Hoshikawa, even… Heh!"

"Oh my. I wouldn't mind giving a beating to the flattened woman Hibiki is along the way, either…" She giggled.

"But that could be reckless, too… There could be some trap… And even you would have trouble fending off Blood Shadow at the same time you fight Hibiki… How about I lure Blood Shadow away by stirring up trouble close by and you tackle Hibiki?"

"Good idea. Let's do just that. Easy money. Easier than Buttercup's $3 bills… Tee, heh, heh!"

"Oh yeah. I know. Heh, heh, heh."

"…dumbfounded rabbit foot! You were the culprit!" Someone in the film exclaimed.

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah! My rabbit leg is invincible~!"

"What's with this film?"

"Meh! Some randomness I found by chance. "The Rabbit Plot"…"

"Rabbit Plot? Why not Rabid Plot while you were at it?" She laughed.

"Dunno. Guess they wanted it to be for all audiences."

"This looks like it'll be worth my time. Let's enjoy this cooked rabbit."

"Cooked by Ushijima's fiery and hellish breath!"

Both laughed aloud at their jokes…


	8. Chapter 8: Betrayal

**Chapter 8: Betrayal**

17:43 PM (Japan Time), Friday November the 9th…

"… Mwah, hah, hah! Beast Swing!"

"Lance!"

"Thunderbolt!"

"What cheap grunts! I wanna meet the boss!"

"Before that we've got "G" Viruses to overcome."

"And berserk Wizards too."

"Man! Don't rob me of the mood."

"More like we're warning you."

"To not to get cocky, that is."

"Sheesh."

War Rock, Miles and Storm were rushing through a facility somewhere while facing legions of Heel Wizards who were trying to stop them or keep them busy: War Rock was getting cocky and both Wizards needed to remind him that the real stuff was yet to come: War Rock grumbled as if he wouldn't accept they were right.

"Guro~h!"

"Gura~h!"

"Heh! They showed up! The Halloween Cosplay Bros.!"

"Oh come on."

Two Berserk Wizards colored red and blue showed up and War Rock made up a lame title for them: the other two sighed.

"Did ya go see the Spica Mall dentist? Ya need to take care of yer teeth, ya Halloween lot!"

"Please." Both fumed.

"Guro~h!"

"Gura~h!"

"Eat this! Hyper Cannon! Heavy Down X! Edogiri Blade X!"

"Hey! Save some for us! Thunderbolt!"

"Lance!"

War Rock began to attack the red one while Storm and Miles unleashed their attacks on the blue one: Storm made a thunderbolt fall down from above while Miles drew a lance and thrust it at a fast speed to hit the enemy several times in a row and in a different spot each time so that they couldn't counter or defend.

"Mwah, hah, hah! The script jerk is weak! I'll mincemeat the guy's cape and have the guy to the tailor's in London!"

"Sure, sure." The other two skeptically muttered.

"Let's go~! I wanna meet the Gravity Ugly League!"

"Gravity Ugly League: how original." Miles fumed.

"You know by now what to expect from this guy." Storm fumed next and was getting fed up.

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah! I'm the maddening swan!"

"Let devil bite me. It's Cynically Clinically!"

"What a lame rhyme."

Cygnus Wing showed up in front of them to try to stop them: War Rock made up a lame rhyme and the other two sighed.

"Grrr! My blood's boiling! Bring it on, _Swan Lake_ wannabe! I'm gonna rip each and everyone one of your feathers like Omega does! I'll beat the guy's record! Ya go on ahead! I wanna have fun!"

"Fine. Let's go, Storm."

"Yeah. No gain in hanging around…"

Both continued on forward while they heard roars and shrieks from behind them: they seemed to be reaching a limit as to how much exasperation they could bear with today.

"Omega's been too bad of an influence."

"We can tell that despite that we've only been around since April and we're at November: it's barely been half a year. Imagine if we'd had to bear the guy for over two years by now… Ever since summer of 2204, that is…" Miles warned him.

"Yeah. We should be glad of it, ironically enough."

"METTO~!"

"The "G" guys showed up, huh? Let's go, Miles."

"Sure, Storm. Hra~h!"

Some "G" Viruses showed up so they rushed into the fray ongoing into an outer yard: between two large non-descript facility-like buildings: the yard was filled with small ponds left by recent rain and overgrown grass: there were about six different Viruses surrounding them.

"Hum. Croaker G, Miley G, Stonego G, Death Count G, Dokkan G, Flamer G… Let's have fifty-fifty." Miles suggested.

"Fine. First half's yours. Second half's mine… Meteor Light Barrage: eat this one for a change!"

"Elemental Cyclone!"

Both used the NFB Battle Cards and managed to deliver great damage to the Viruses yet they were still standing and they began their attacks: both used their default shields to block or they dodged by predicting where the attacks would land at.

"Dancing Blade X!"

"Heat Grenade!"

"Mugro~h!"

"Phew! Let's go on: we don't know what'll come next."

"Alright."

"I'll give you something neat! Lorentz Force!"

"What?"

"Dodge!"

Both dodged a large object which was flung at them and exploded into pieces upon hitting the floor at a high speed: laughter rang out and Crown Thunder showed up: his body glowed with a purple tint and above him there was a "Commercial Ship" which was quickly spinning like a wheel clockwise while being surrounded by the same tint.

"I'll give you something neat! Lorentz Force!" He announced again while chuckling.

He flung his arms forward and the "Commercial Ship" shot towards them: they rushed forward and Crown Thunder gasped.

"What!"

"Drill Arm X!"

"Powder Shot X!"

"Mugro~h! My Lorentz Glory~!" Crown Thunder gasped as both attacks met the target.

"I suspect Sigma made this up." Miles grumbled.

"Who else would bother to? Trying to play smart-lass by giving Crown Thunder the ability to flung objects at you using Lorentz Force… The guy needs some scolding." Storm fumed.

"I'm Glory Lorentz!"

"Sheesh."

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah! It's gotten interestin', by Rockus Warus Samus!"

"Will you quit it with the Latin imitations?"

War Rock joined them while chuckling and Miles groaned at his newest stupid title.

"By storming storms of storm!"

"Do something useful." Storm challenged.

"Sure~! Oi! Rental Skeleton! You're FIRED!"

"W-wha~t? Rental skeleton, me~?" He growled.

"Grrr! My blood's stirring! Beast Swing!"

War Rock warped and hit Crown Thunder twice with his claws: he growled and stepped back, annoyed.

"Damn you~…! Eat this! Thunder!"

He made five thunderbolts rain down and form the shape of the "X" character but War Rock easily dodged those and laughed as he quickly orbited around the guy.

"Your gravity wouldn't even trap a mosquito~!"

"You plebeian! I'll make ya regret that! Heavy Down X!"

War Rock gasped and barely dodged the incoming attack: he sighed in relief while Crown Thunder laughed.

"E~H! Why can ya use Battle Cards? Huh! Close, too close~!" He grumbled at the opponent.

"Guess Sigma wanted to level up the challenge." Storm shrugged.

"It ain't our fault." Miles added.

"Grrr! Eat this, ugly! Atomic Blazer!"

"Mugro~h!"

The powerful NFB completely annihilated Crown Thunder and War Rock swung his claws up and down.

"Yessir! Victory~!"

17:58 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Ah… More… I want more, Tsukasa – kun…"

"Heh, heh. Sure, Subaru – kun."

"I'll tease your penis, see~…"

"O~h! Gino – kun…! Sneaky…!"

"Heh, heh, heh. We're some boys, eh?"

"Yeah… We sure are…"

Subaru moaned as he felt how Tsukasa, behind him, was pumping his cock into Subaru: Tsukasa grinned and Kiboyama, who was lying on his side, was rubbing his thumb finger over Subaru's cock head to tease him: the group giggled and looked amused.

"The "boku" trio." Subaru joked.

"Sure we are."

"The Humble Trinity." Kiboyama laughed.

"The "triangle"…" Tsukasa giggled.

"We never grow tired of this, huh? We've been at this since April and it's already been over half a year." Subaru commented.

"Whoa. Time sure flies by… I know I joined the crew one year ago, more or less, but to think time has flown by so quickly…!" Tsukasa muttered.

"Same for me, really…" Kiboyama admitted.

"Yeah… Time has flown by… This summer marked the 2nd year ever since the destruction of Meteor G… Which happened in late June… The Mu Continent deal was solved close to mid – May of that year…"

"Yeah… And that's around the time trouble struck…" Tsukasa sighed.

"Huh! Sorry. I brought that up again…" Subaru apologized.

"No. Don't mind it. I must confront or it or it'll haunt me forever."

"Yeah… We all gotta confront our bad moments and overcome the memory of them if we want to move on forward… Sooner or later, we'll have to…" Kiboyama commented.

"How exactly did you get dragged into that mess?"

"Well. I'd gone to Philadelphia… It was the afternoon, the sun was high and there were a lot of people in the streets… I entered a store which sold customizable "skins" for the Star Carrier… They told me the good stuff was in the basement floor, so I went down there… And someone suddenly struck me from behind…"

"So the store was to lure people like you into their clutches?" Subaru gasped.

"Yeah. By the time I woke up I was being transported with others in a van but I couldn't move, see or shout… We were then brought into a jet's cargo area and knocked out with chloroform… That's when they transported us to Choina… And next…"

"What happened?" Kiboyama gasped next.

"When I awoke, I still couldn't see or shout but I was naked and had that S&M gear on me… I was being exhibited with others… In some "auction" of the underground… I later knew that the man who "bought" me had paid 10 million Z…" He shuddered.

"What! 10 million Z…! From what I heard they were a corrupt Mafia man, right?"

"And that was the start of my nightmare… Until the local police raided the place and rescued me… But it was a very long nightmare… From late May, 2204, to October, 2205… 17 months… Roughly year and a half… A year and a half of my life enslaved and abused of…" He trailed off.

"D-don't keep on. We're sorry, really."

"No. I must…! Or else it'll haunt me forever…! Well. But you know the rest: it was thanks to Hikaru that I retained my sanity despite all that happened there…"

"Let's vent off the gloomy mood, Tsukasa – kun. We wanted to have a nice afternoon, didn't we?"

"True…" Tsukasa made a weak smile.

"I've got an idea." Kiboayama grinned.

He picked his Hunter – VG and inputted some commands: the sound of Chinese – like ambient music rang out.

"Lao Tsu once said… You must find the frying pan." A man's voice politely said in Japanese.

"Wasn't it "you must find the way"?" Tsukasa giggled.

"Guess Sigma hid it." Subaru guessed.

"I wouldn't be surprised, yeah." Kiboyama grinned.

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah. Dragonus Hellishus Breathus!" War Rock's voice rang out.

"The Honorable God of War desires something?"

"Huh? God of War? Me? Well! Why not." He laughed.

"Oh come on." The three groaned now.

"What is your desire?"

"Did ya see Sigma?"

"The God of Fear? See I did not but his presence feel I did."

"In short: he was around a lil while ago and he's left, huh? Well, guess the Sith Lord onboard knows." He chuckled.

"Sith Lord?" The 3 of them wondered.

"War Rock! I heard THAT!" Vadous complained over the interphone in the background.

"Jeez. Ya forgot to switch off?" He grumbled.

"I shall apology by offering 3 sheep to thou altar."

"Oh come on. Forget that of before. You sound creepy and ya remind me of the Nanska Village deal." He sighed.

"Totally." Subaru rolled his eyes.

"Oh yeah. I did witness that while hiding close by… Really… Gonta – kun did too much of a fuss…" Tsukasa brought up.

"Guess that. From what I was told…" Kiboyama shrugged.

"Let's leave the madness to fight with its self and resume." Subaru suggested.

"Sure."

Kiboayama shut off the Hunter – VG and suddenly picked Subaru's cock to take it into his mouth: Subaru gasped and moaned from the sudden feeling while Tsukasa snickered and began to move Subaru up and down along the length of his cock: he began to lick and kiss the skin on the base of his neck and Subaru's groans grew in volume.

"It feels good…! Very good…! I can't have enough…!"

"Guess you're somewhat masochist, too, Subaru – kun."

"Guess we all are!" He giggled.

He gasped and groaned as he released and filled Kiboyama's mouth with the white stuff: Kiboyama snickered and suddenly lifted his head and body to capture Subaru's lips and start a kiss: Subaru closed his eyes and followed the kiss' pace while Tsukasa kept on moving up and down: Kiboyama was rubbing his cock with the right hand at the same time.

"I'm going off!" Tsukasa warned.

He released inside of Subaru and laughed from the feeling: Subaru and Kiboyama finished their kiss and looked at the white string connecting them together.

"Almost like a Brother Band… I'm off too!"

"Whoa!"

Kiboyama released too and panted: Subaru used his hands as support to pull his body up and detach from Tsukasa's cock: he lied horizontally with his head close to the wall and between Tsukasa and Kiboyama: the three of them were panting and looked amused.

"Heh. Guess we wanted to vent the gloomy mood in one shot." Subaru guessed.

"Guess that."

"Surely, Watson."

"Oh come on. Gino – kun! Those detective jokes are getting old." He rolled his eyes.

"Detective Roger?" Kiboyama joked next.

"Oh please. That was from the Meteor G crisis time: some name of some TV series character which Rock got obsessed with…"

"Gino Il Napolitano~! Napoli, Napoli~! _Mamma Mia~_!" Sigma joked outside of the room.

"At least you can't hear what goes into the room from the outside unless you're really loud… I'm going to complain to Mr. Vadous!" Kiboyama muttered before calling out aloud.

"SIGMA! What happened to the mission? Huh? You gotta go reinforce security at Kazana Prison! I suspect Hyde will hit the place to try to free some criminals and give us extra work! Move it!" Vadous grumbled on the outside of the room.

"R-roger, Boss!"

"Oi! Wait, Sigma! I'm coming along for the thrill hill! Nyah, hah, hah, hah, hah, hah, hah!"

"How lame." The three teens muttered.

"Sheesh. War Rock. Save your jokes for a cave with echo. Just go."

"Roger, Geror! Nyah, hah, hah, hah."

19:19 PM (Japan Time)…

"… So? Do we agree? The plan is to strike from the eastern and western sides… 5 minutes each… And then we pull back using the temporary Noise Wave…"

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah… They'll run and shoot… It'll be fun…"

"Hmpf. Fine. But we won't lower the guard."

"Yeah. We're not idiots."

"I never said you were. Else I wouldn't…"

"…have bothered to get us outta this same place? Whatever. Let's go, Ku, and ignore 'em."

"Sure, Ka."

"Go, my disciple! Time for the drama to begin! By Austria!"

"Hyde~… You're getting cocky again."

"Just be quiet."

Phantom Black, Asssasin Shinobi, Kurayami and Kanaya were in position in a Wave Road circling the outer perimeter walls and fences of a large prison complex: it was already evening and there were some Satella Police Wizards patrolling the perimeter in groups of 3: some spotlights were scanning the skies as well.

"Good luck." Phantom Black grinned.

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah… Time to slice up some rubbish…"

"Hmpf. Let's go."

"Yeah. See ya!"

Kurayami and Kanaya headed towards the eastern side while the other two headed for the western: the duo then took out binoculars and examined the situation inside of the perimeter.

"No prisoners in sight. Good. We can go all out on the Wizards."

"Sure. Let's create some scandal. We want this to become the opening news of the 8PM news!" Kanaya smirked.

"Sure thing! Here we go~!"

Both landed inside of the perimeter and an alarm blared into life: the Battle Wizards rushed in only to find them ready and with their guns loaded.

"Eat shotgun!"

"Eat gun!"

They shot at the Battle Wizards who brought up Barrier Battle Cards to defend but they weren't enough: most of them were deleted or heavily injured.

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah! BOOM!" They heard Phantom Black laugh not too far from there.

"Mwah, hah, hah… Slice 'n dice~!"

"Forget them. Let's try to cause further ruckus. I want the tough fellows to drop by." Kurayami grinned.

"And gals… If there's any…" Kanaya giggled.

"By the way, are you expecting something? You look very animated as of late, Ka…"

"Oh yeah. I'm expecting a comedy to happen. A comedy involving a triangle, yeah, but a _clichéd_ triangle… It'll burn!"

"Oho. Sounds like fun."

"It'll be fun. I took care of all preparations. It'll come to happen nevertheless." She giggled.

"Come at full power!" Sigma roared on the western area.

"So you came! Envoy of Norway!"

"E-envoy of Norway? Oh come on!" Phantom complained aloud.

"Mwah, hah, hah! Punk! I'm gonna turn ya into a skinhead!" War Rock challenged.

"Hoh, hoh, hoh… I'd like to see ya trying… Ya alone sans your pretty Hoshikawa~… I'll cut off your neck!" Assassin Shinobi laughed.

"Phantom Claw!"

"Eat punch!"

"Hmpf. So you showed up."

"Sheesh. Omega of all types. Lovely."

"Oh come on. Be a man."

Omega landed in front of them while having draw a saber with a pyramidal white base, a rectangular hilt and a blade made of green energy having a triangle shape: he looked serious and ready for battle so Kurayami grumbled and Kanaya fumed.

"Hmpf. So? What it'll be?" Omega challenged.

"Fine! I'll face you." Kurayami drew the shotgun.

"I'm going to cause some trouble there. Don't lower the guard, Ku: this guy is no joke."

"I knew that, Ka."

"Fine."

She walked away and headed for the northern block while Kurayami jumped backwards into the air and began to shoot rounds at Omega who jumped forward into the air to dodge them or bounce them off with the sword without any real effort: Kurayami grumbled under his breath and drew a Break Saber X Battle Card to hit Omega's weapon: given the elemental disadvantage Omega had his attack got bounced off and he got hit by Kurayami yet he wasn't surprised by that as he calmly landed back into the ground.

"Hmpf."

"Che. Breaker Cards won't suffice… Guess the guy's got Super Armor on and won't flinch from the attacks, either."

"Wasn't it obvious?"

"Sheesh. I only need more firepower. That's all! Sword Fighter X!"

"Hmpf. Come."

Kurayami locked on Omega and both clashed blades: Kurayami began to try to put more pressure into Omega who didn't move an inch from his position: Kurayami quietly began to load his shotgun but began to slowly yield terrain while struggling to regain it: Omega calmly began to push him back but Kurayami suddenly lifted the shotgun.

"Eat this!"

BLAM!

"Ugroh!"

The blast hit Omega and since he hadn't foreseen it he got attacked in the midst of the chest: the blow did push him into the perimeter wall where he left a mark: Kurayami recoiled from the shot and smirked while Omega grumbled and quickly recovered.

"Shit. I forgot about that thing."

"Heh, heh, heh. Blame Brad Shad for the idea~…"

"Sheesh. Stop making up nicknames."

"Aren't you the one who came up with "B-B-B-B-Bertie~"?"

"That was my joker mode. That could be a split personality of me for all I care right now." He wasn't impressed.

"Aren't cha too much, anyway? Eat this! Mad Vulcan X!"

"Gruh! Attacking from the left, huh!"

Kanaya suddenly joined the fray by shooting rounds from the right: she and Kurayami began to run as a wolf's howl rang out.

"Mwah, hah, hah! Enjoy your stay here, you lot! The fortress is now MINE!"

"See ya~!"

"Shit!"

"Fuck!"

Both cursed upon seeing Phantom Black and Assassin Shinobi running into a Noise Wave entrance which collapsed: Sigma and War Rock seemed to be recovering from the effects of some flash-bang trick they'd managed to pull on them: the two villains growled upon seeing that an energy dome was surrounding the whole complex.

"Shit. Anti – Denpa Barriers! We can't Cyber Out or open Noise Waves since there isn't enough Noise! The Wave Roads are outta our reach like this, too!" Kurayami cursed.

"The rascal! We knew they were gonna betray us sooner or later but to think they lured us back here…! I'll have them regret it! But I'm not gonna go down sans a fight!" Kanaya hissed.

"Game Over." Omega announced.

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah. Lucky!" War Rock grinned.

"This ain't lucky. We just did a favor to 'em, ya know?" Sigma grumbled.

"W-wha~t? The rascals!"

"Eat this! Giant Axe!"

"Drill Arm X!"

Kurayami drew the Giant Axe and Kanaya the Drill Arm X: both jumped at Omega and Sigma but Omega merely gripped Kurayami's neck and flung him towards a wall while Sigma rammed Kanaya with the right shoulder: she hit the wall too: both of them collapsed into the ground and suddenly fainted: Omega grumbled and sighed.

"We caught these 2 but… We gotta get the other 2… Soon! Or else…!"


	9. Chapter 9: Comedy

**Chapter 9: Comedy**

11:31 AM (Japan Time), Saturday November the 10th…

"… KI~H!"

"W-what's wrong, Luna – chan?"

"Rock Man – sama doesn't get to shine~!"

"Oh come on. Not that again!"

"All those folk! They're on the way!"

"Not like Subaru – kun likes to…!"

"I'm talking about Rock Man – sama, Mode! Not Subaru – kun!"

"When will you stop treating them like they're 2 different persons? They aren't and it's not like he changes personality. Just because he changes the looks that doesn't change his personality…"

"KI~H! This walking encyclopedia!"

"Shouldn't you tell that to Pedia – san?"

"Whatever the lunatic ever!"

"Oh boy."

Luna had gotten another fit of annoyance and Mode was trying to calm her down without much success insofar.

"I should've been in that "Raid Troop" instead of that gal! Misora – chan: ya dare to steal Rock Man – sama's heart? Bring it on!"

"But, Luna – chan… Your reputation…!"

"KI~H! I couldn't care less right now!"

"And how did you want to be in the "Raid Troop" if you can't Denpa – Henkan to begin with? They got chosen because they could."

"Gonta! The Fatman! Just because Ox got suddenly rebuilt there on Okudama Studios he got picked…!"

"I think that Gonta – kun was a better choice than you, Luna – chan. From what I've heard, when you used Denpa – Henkan during the Mu Incident you weren't precisely conscious of it to begin with. Like Gonta – kun in the Yaeba Resort Gourmet Town's "Big Eating Contest"…"

"KI~H! Why do you need to point out each every flaw?"

"To try to get you to be rational…"

"Rational! Hah! I'm rational!"

"No, you're not. You're letting both your jealousy and ego get loose… You let them be in control and you let them have you run berserk."

"BERSERK?" She gasped.

"Yeah. In case you hadn't noticed, Luna – chan."

"KI~H!"

"You're going to scare the neighbors!"

"Sheesh!"

"Be rational, Luna – chan!"

"Silence! I'm in charge! There! Kizamaro!"

"_I-iinchou_? W-what's the matter, ma'am?"

She opened a line with Kizamaro who gasped and looked like he foresaw trouble.

"Tell me how to Denpa – Henkan!"

"I can't! I have no idea how to! Try asking the Satella Police: but you can't do it with Mode. Normal Wizards are not built to allow that. You should know it very well, _iinchou_!" Kizamaro gasped.

"KI~H! You four-eyes kiddo~! I want you to tell me!"

"But I swear! I don't know how!"

"You must know! You know it all!"

"I don't! For example, those "Spiriting away" things which popped out in Kodama Town during the Mu Continent affair… They weren't in my "Maro Dictionary"…!"

"You ne'er-do-well! I'll have you be covered in tar and feathers!" She threatened.

"M-ma'am, please, be rational!" He uttered in rush.

"Fine! Go read old-fashioned science books: I'll figure it out myself sooner or later! You reject 8th dwarf!"

"EXCUSE ME~?" He gasped in horror.

"Oh boy." Pedia sighed in the background.

"FATMA~N!"

"Uwa~h! W-what's up, _iinchou_?" Gonta gasped.

"Is your set-it-all-on-fire Wizard over there? HUH?" Luna questioned in rush.

"O-Ox, you mean? Eh, yeah, the guy's here, yeah…" He trailed off and looked off-screen.

"Confess, you bully bull! How does Denpa – Henkan work like?" She called out.

"Buro~! Never gave it much of a thought, see! It happens that my own body frequency happened to be similar to Gonta's own brain frequency so I use my own Denpa to transform Gonta and me into a Denpa Body: that's how it works." Ox shrugged.

"So the only thing I need is a Denpa Body!"

"Buro~! But Wizards can't do it, ya know! Their data structure is different from ours. A Mu Denpa Body would do it or if there was a stray AMian or FMian…"

"And how did you transform back in the Yaeba Resort?"

"Buro~! That wasn't my will. It was my residual Denpa… Buro~!"

"And what does that mean?"

"It was an accident! Seeing fire stirred up my remains which had been carried over into the Star Carrier, they materialized and gathered enough mass and energy to do it! That's it! The Noise Card which Jack used on me two years ago fully contributed to restoring me so I've become Gonta's Wizard ever since then." He explained.

"Sheesh! If only I could find a Denpa Body…!"

"Buro~! Don't ask me. Not like you'll find them on any market or you'll get them through money! Besides, ya have your own Wizard already, don't ya?"

"Hmpf!"

She suddenly cut the line and fumed as she began to stomp the ground with the right foot: a twitch formed over her right eye and Mode sighed as she floated away.

"I better go contact her parents. I think they're in Japan this weekend so at least they can call her to control her. Luna – chan would benefit from some psychoanalysis too." She muttered.

"JACK!"

"Whoa! What's up?" Jack gasped as Luna contacted him.

"Tell me where to find a Denpa Body~!"

"Dunno. I don't need to. Don't ya remember? Corvus got deleted by Solo back then and…!"

"That's it! Solo! He doesn't need a Denpa Body to Denpa – Henkan! If I could get the same ability then…! Oh, hoh, hoh, hoh!"

"Sheesh. Try asking Dr. Lartes, Hoshikawa's medic… The guy seems to know a lot about this stuff… See ya."

"Good, good! I'll contact Dr. Lartes!"

"Huff. Jack – kun could've told her to get lost, no?"

"Hello? Dr. Lartes, is it?"

"Yes. That's me. Shirogane – san. Is there some trouble?" Dr. Lartes calmly asked her.

"I need the ability to solo Denpa – Henkan!"

"If it's for the sake of a caprice then I can't give it to you. Boss wouldn't approve of it." He warned.

"It's not a caprice! It's to help Rock Man – sama!"

"I'm afraid you'd rather waste the time with some romance story: no offense but you're easily readable."

"W-what? You can't be serious, mister! I NEED it!"

"You don't need to. What you need to do is to study."

"KI~H! I'll get it! No matter what!"

"Dream on, Miss, dream on. You wouldn't act rationally. I can see it coming miles away, Miss."

"And what about Jack, huh?"

"Jack's another tale, Miss. He was a bad child and he got the interest of Corvus as he and Queen Tia got obsessed with their "world remake" idea but then tried to kill them when they gave up on it."

"Sheesh! Fine! I'll handle it myself! I'll find a way! Nyah, hah, hah, hah, hah, hah, hah, hah!"

"Oh boy."

"Now! Let's see this app a fan of me sent me… Oho!"

"What now?" Mode wondered.

"I'm lucky! I'll win the lottery~!" She laughed.

"I'm off." She sighed.

_Luna – chan is too unstable from time to time…! Someone save our sanity!_

12:08 PM (Japan Time)…

"… _Iinchou_? Are you there~?"

"Are you sure that the gal didn't pull a troll on us?"

"It could be but it didn't harm to check."

"Curious spot to be called at, huh…? Dream Island… How long has it been since you set a foot here?"

"Now that you mention it… Ever since we used the Communications Module to get to "Bonds"… Never."

"Heh! So it's your first time coming back after close to 3 years, eh? It hasn't changed that much."

"Yeah. It really hasn't. Oh. There's the spot: you can see the sunken ship from there…"

Rock Man stepped into the Dream Island Park and climbed up the hills until he reached the spot where one could spot the sunken ship: he was chatting with War Rock at the same time.

"This spot… That's where Tsukasa – kun and I talked… And this is also the spot where Kuroban called Tsukasa – kun at… To then extract Hikaru from him… A fated spot, even…"

"You can see the ventilation shaft of the underground chamber with the Communications Module on it further away, too." War Rock signaled next with a grin.

"True. I don't know if we could get it to work again… I wouldn't mind studying the place once again…"

"Yeah. Guess the section where Cepheus set his throne at was partly turned into data because of the large amount of Z – Waves hence why it had that odd look and feeling to it… But it must be normal by now: filled with Crimson, yeah, but…"

"Good point. But Crimson isn't dangerous for us anymore. It would be good to try to dispose of it."

"Yeah. Sure. Hmmm? I feel a faint signature… Coming closer!" War Rock gasped and looked around.

"So maybe it's a trap by Hyde and Shinobi. Fine. Let them come: we'll show them how powerless they are."

"Heh! I like the sound of that, yessir!"

"Where is it coming from?"

"Above! Imminent!"

"Let's run and…! Huh?"

Rock Man tried to run away only to find that two tree twigs had formed out of nowhere and coiled around his ankles: he fell face-down on the grass as something heavy dropped atop his back: he groaned and he tried to push up but what had fallen was too big.

"Shit! It's too heavy!"

"Kyah, hah, hah, hah! Now! Let's make it clear, Rock Man – sama~! You belong to me and only me~!"

"What in the?"

"Oh fuck." War Rock cursed.

"I can't lift my head, even! Tell me what's going on, Rock!"

"That gal!"

"Kanaya? But she's in the prison!"

"No, not the imitator! The poisonous queen wannabe~!"

"Fuck. Ophiucus Queen, you mean to say?"

"The same one!"

It turned on that Ophiucus Queen was the one who'd fallen from above and she was dancing left and right while grinning and looking rather psychotic: War Rock was trying to tackle her from the sides but she wouldn't move an inch.

"Mine, mine and only mine~!"

"What's going on?" Rock Man groaned.

"Sheesh! I suspect that Kanaya gal found the residual Denpa of Ophiucus within this gal and prepared a program to allow her to forcibly undergo Denpa – Henkan! And this program must alter her brain so she goes mad and all!" He deduced on the spot.

"Kanaya…! She prepared this…! The villain…!" He growled.

"Kyah, hah, hah, hah, hah!"

"You're gonna crush me!" Rock Man yelled.

"With my love~!"

"Shit. Words don't work… At least the radio…! Emergency status: code Alpha Two!"

"What's going on?" Vadous asked back.

"I'm in tight spot… literally! Boss! I need backup!"

"Omega!"

"Roger. On my way. 50 seconds." Omega calmly announced.

"50 seconds? Alright!"

"Talking with your saint patron, Rock Man – sama~?"

"Yeah! She says you're out-fashioned!" He improved.

"W-WHA~T? KI~H! HARP NOTE~! DON'T GET IN MY WAY~!" Ophiucus Queen shrieked.

"Hopefully she can't rape me in this form." He muttered.

"I guess not." War Rock ventured.

He was swinging his claws and hitting her back but she didn't seem to feel the pain to begin with.

"Shit. Guess the CNS doesn't receive these inputs." He fumed.

"20 seconds. What's the situation?" Omega asked.

"To put it simple…! Kanaya rebuilt Ophiucus Queen…! She's crushing me with her weight…! But it's still _iinchou_…! You need to get her off me and we need to defeat her!" He summed up.

"Hmpf. I knew those two wouldn't leave us in peace so easily despite being back in the jail… 11 seconds. The portal machine is almost loaded by now." Omega wasn't surprised.

"A-alright!"

"What's with that muttering now? Rock Man – sama~?"

"It's about to rain Crimson!"

"W-wha~t? That's bad for the skin! My make-up!"

"3 seconds."

"Roger…! Gruh! Get off me!"

"No! We'll be together forever!"

"Sheesh. Nothing takes effect!" War Rock grumbled.

There was a purple flash behind him and a round "gateway" opened: Omega rushed out with the saber drawn and its blade turned orange in color: War Rock gasped and suddenly signaled the grass below them: Omega gasped in understanding and instead landed on her back and gripped her shoulders.

"Ow! It hurts! Who…?"

"Someone." Omega drily replied.

"Ki~h! Don't get in my way!"

"Bite me." He taunted.

"Sure thing! Go, my servants!"

Ophiucus Queen turned around and slid down the hill: Rock Man groaned and quickly managed to sit on his fours before rolling to a side.

"O~w… My back!" He groaned.

"Useless. Be gone! Hah!"

Omega jumped into the air while dodging the snakes Ophiucus Queen flung at him: he tossed an Ice Seed into the ground followed by the Bubble Hook X Battle Card: Ophiucus Queen got trapped in the ice and Omega drew a Voltic Eye 3 Battle Card: he locked on Ophiucus Queen and the electrical attack inflicted additional damage because she was trapped in the mass of ice: she got annoyed and rushed towards Omega who easily dodged again.

"I need to lure her away into the Wave Road… Oi! Bite me!"

"KI~H!"

Omega rushed towards a Wave Station and used it to access the Wave Road: Ophiucus Queen did the same but on the instant she stepped into the Wave Road Omega drew his gun and shot one plasma round which impacted her and set her on fire: she shrieked.

"KIA~H!"

Her DH form began to break down and it finally broke down: Omega picked Luna and landed on the ground before placing her face-up on the grass and checking her pulse.

"She seems to have fainted. I guess she won't remember what she did to begin with." He muttered.

"Let's hope… so! Ugh!" Rock Man clutched his back as he walked over to them.

"Man. What a morning." War Rock sighed.

"I know. Well. The rest is up to you. I'm going to WAXA." Omega told them with a shrug.

"Yeah… I'll drop by later… Let's call Gonta and see if he can help bring her home… Sheesh! My back!"

"That damned gal…! I'm sure the gal's laughing at us and all…! Che!"

13:13 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Alright. Did we find our subject, Ryuusuke?"

"Oh yes. We did, Chief."

"Good. She's still in the nation, then?"

"Affirmative. She didn't bother to change her address. We've begun monitoring of incoming and outgoing signals. She seems to move a lot of black money… And she's the boss of a club, too…"

"Hmpf. I'm not surprised. Are there any signs that Queen Tia got there ahead of us, Ryuusuke?"

"No, Akatsuki."

"So maybe she's waiting for a chance."

"We already can process her for tax evasion."

"Fine."

Some Satella Police Commandos, Shidou, Acid and the Chief were having a meeting in the Satella Police HQ: the screen behind the counter showed a woman on her 30s who had purplish-tinted hair and cold blue eye irises: she did have a very superficial resemblance to Misora.

"It turns out Queen Tia had a point but… It's very superficial: it depends on the angle and the lighting, too…" Shidou muttered.

"Similarities clock at 31%." Acid let out.

"Hum. It's high but not too high either. Oh well."

"What's the status?" Omega walked in.

"Omega. What happened to Subaru?"

"Some slight trouble. He'll come and report in a while."

"Oh well. If you say so…"

"So?"

"Yeah. Getting back to the affair… The plans of the house reveal she's got a basement… And what a "coincidence", a girl aged 12 went missing a week ago close by… So that woman got her and she has her in the club or on her own basement…"

"Couldn't we do something about it? We're an organization with no political or national ties." Omega offered.

"That was what I wanted to suggest… Maybe it'd be better if you could bring Hibiki with you… That girl must be panicked and maybe Hibiki could help calm her down… You never know: she might attack you thinking you're an accomplice Wizard…" Shidou warned.

"Good point. I guess Boss won't object. As long as we keep Hibiki's involvement under wraps…"

"There won't be an official record." Acid assured him.

"Fine. Then there shouldn't be any trouble to begin with. We could end up faster by getting inside and rescuing the girl: she could denounce the woman and there'd be a legal reason to arrest her."

"Good thinking, yeah. What do you think, Ryuusuke?"

"It's an extreme situation. It calls for action." He agreed on it.

"Chief?"

"True. If we can help out people in trouble then… And we can't let such villains roam free unchecked either…"

"Excellent." Acid sounded satisfied.

"Boss? Did you hear?" Omega glanced at his right ear-pad.

"I did. I approve of the idea, too. If we could execute it by today or tomorrow then… The better. That could give us a way to figure out Queen Tia's next movements."

"Good. The only thing we need to do by now is contact Hibiki."

"I'll handle it. Hello? Misora?"

"Akatsuki – san?" Misora asked back.

"Are you busy today?"

"No. Today's a break day."

"Good. I've got a mission for you to take part into with Omega…" He went straight to the point.

"I'm heading over there."

"Excellent. I'll be waiting."

He finished the call and drew a "Sweet Candy" which he munched at a quick speed: he grinned.

"Ah! I needed one."

"Shidou…" Acid grumbled.

"Come on, Acid. Not like I'm gonna get as fatty as Gonta by eating these, ya know?"

"My, my. Shidou – chan… Didn't you try out the green energy tea I recommended to you the other day around?" Dr. Yoiri walked down the stairs.

"Hakase~… They don't sell those anymore~…" He sighed.

"Oh my. I could've sworn that Aranda – chan…"

"Aranda Samiko, encryption specialist…?" Acid deduced.

"…was drinking a can of it and…"

"Are you sure that you didn't mistake the can?" Shidou sighed.

"Guess that." The Chief rolled his eyes.

"…very relaxing and so went on with the tale of her aunt that…"

"…founded Code & Protocol Inc. 21 years ago~…" Shidou finished.

"Oh my. I'd already told you children? I get so engrossed with the projects that I forget about those." She giggled.

"I thought Dragon's kilometric speech was the killer but having to remind her that you've heard those tales already…" Omega muttered as he rolled his eyes: he seemed to feel the exasperation coming in.

"Warning! Stack overflow! Stack overflow!"

"What?" Omega gasped.

"Stack overflow?" Shidou frowned.

"It's a programming term. It happens in arrays having multiple elements, Shidou."

"And why turn on the alarm if it's a mere common error?"

"Ah! I think I mixed up some code of the alarm with the program I was compiling." Dr. Yoiri gasped as she took out her Hunter – VG and interacted with it.

"Ah! If it's just that…"

"Oh! Omega – chan. I hadn't spotted you yet."

"… Couldn't we skip the suffixes?" He sounded like he barely held his annoyance at bay.

"Huh… You certainly look like you didn't like it."

"Yes, ma'am." He coolly replied.

"Huh. Guess you don't have much patience. Oh well. I'll be on my way back to the Main Computer. Call me if you need help deciphering the nutritional information, Shidou – chan."

"Hakase…!"

She climbed up the stairs and Shidou grumbled something under his breath: Ryuusuke and the Chief seemed to feel fed up too.

"I need some fresh air."

"I think we all do." The Chief suggested.

"I'll contact the patrols." Ryuusuke nodded.

"Fine. I'll wait for Hibiki outside, too. The air feels heavy and poorly ventilated, anyway."

They all came out into the outer yard: Omega spotted a mock-up of the Dynamic Wave Station placed where the real one had been at along with a descriptive plaque.

"That wasn't here a few days ago."

"Oh yeah. The Chief thought we should have a reminder." Shidou shrugged.

"I see."

"Akatsuki – san! I'm here." Misora walked up to him.

"Good. I'll send you a mail with the mission info. Do you feel in form to make a trip overseas?" He asked in a hushed tone.

"Huh? Well… Yes."

"Sorry for the secrecy, but this isn't an "official" mission… It's a rescue mission… On Queen Tia's nation…"

"I see. And to avoid political and protocol problems… Gotcha."

"You'll tag with Omega. You'll get to the place and what I want you to do is to help the girl who'll be there. She will most likely be traumatized but maybe you can comfort her and try to cheer her up somehow. She could become a powerful witness to process that villain."

"If it's that then… Leave it to me."

"Good. Mission: start. I'm counting on you, Misora. And Harp."

"Denpa – Henkan! Hibiki Misora, On Air!"

"Let's go, Harp Note. The sooner we move out the better."

"Let's go!"

Omega and Harp Note rushed into the Wave Roads while Shidou grinned.

_Once we solve this affair… Hyde and the punk are next! Get ready! Heh!_


	10. Chapter 10: Unchanged

**Chapter 10: Unchanged**

10:20 AM (Japan Time), Sunday November the 11th…

"… So? How it'd go like, Misora?"

"The girl was in a pretty bad situation but I managed to get through to her and calm her down."

"Good. The villain got arrested as well so… Maybe Queen Tia wanted us to do it in her instead. Or maybe she was still waiting for an opening."

"It could be, Akatsuki – san."

"Pororon. That basement was creepy, alright. I'll never understand why you humans need to go to such ends."

"Not like I do, either."

"Pororon. Guess that."

"Join the club, Harp."

"I get the irony, Acid."

"Oh well. Now we've only got those 2 left… They must be plotting but we'll be ready to tackle them…"

Misora had come to report to Shidou the results of the mission she'd undergone with Omega the other day: Shidou looked satisfied as he leant next to the outer wall of the WAXA building.

"By the way… Omega didn't step into the basement and I think it's better than he didn't do it: he looked about to go into a rampage and bring the house down." She whispered.

"No surprise. Having seen what Anaya Maria did… I was there, when we arrested her, ya know? That "Palace" place was sickening. I'm glad that the demolishing finally ended and it's gone forever."

"I wouldn't be surprised. Dr. Lartes had a point when he wanted me to stay out of the deal back then. It's something which only adults should see: the madness of humanity…"

"Madness of humanity? Sure thing."

"It feels like a rather vague title." Acid complained.

"Bear with it, Mr. Lawyer."

"Not again."

"Pororon. There they go again." Harp giggled.

"I fail to see the grace." Acid addressed her.

"Pororon. You're too machine-like dear, you lack sense of humor." Harp pointed out.

"Maybe. I don't need it to accomplish a mission."

"Alright, alright. Let's not fight over that, either."

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah. Acid Disaster on the disastrous acidic tale~! I'm a genius, yeah!"

"War Rock. Show your hide." Acid commanded.

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah."

"Sheesh."

War Rock showed up while improving another lame motto: Shidou fumed and didn't seem to be in the mood for them.

"The villanius repelignus manus is on the run!"

"The repulsive and villain man? RVM? Oh come on."

"Your Latin corruptions don't have a point to begin with."

"Who cares, Claw Man? I just wanna go loose and wreck it all! My blood's stirring! Bring it on, twerp!"

"Well. Your dear RVM will beat your Noise Wave 6 record."

"Wha~t? I won't let the jerk! Just you wait!"

"Phew. We shook the guy off somehow."

"Somehow, yeah." Misora sighed.

"My, my. Shidou – chan, Misora – chan. Did you know that the Chief's nephew…?" Dr. Yoiri came out.

"…married with a French girl and now have 2 daughters, yeah." Shidou finished for her.

"Oh my. Guess this one is pretty well-known by now."

"Everyone knows it, hakase~…"

"Well. Then, the one about Ryuusuke – chan's…"

"…girlfriend, who showered him in pink pain 5 years ago at a party~…"

"Oh my."

"And they're still at it?" Misora looked surprised.

"Oh no. They quit after that. Ryuusuke never liked the joke."

"Ah. I see."

"UWA~H! The Devil's Claws, I say~! RUN FOR I~T!"

"Utagai! It was War Rock, I say!"

Utagai ran past them as if he was going to be slaughtered alive and not paying attention to what Cygnus was telling him.

"My, my. Utagai – chan and his superstitions."

"Yeah, I know. Nothing new. Nothing surprising. By now." Shidou looked dull and unimpressed.

"At all."

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah! Oi! Amachi~! Amas your land?"

"War Rock! That joke's lame!" Amachi protested close by.

"Totally!" Misora fumed.

"Daigo will promote ya to _Gotenou_! Aka Big Five~!"

"My name doesn't mean "Big Five", War Rock! How many times do I need to tell you?" Daigo protested next.

"Until your wife pulls my ears?"

"Oh come on! Stop making lame jokes. Yours aboard "Bonds" were terrible and you always ended up fighting with Ox in the end: the other FMians ignored you to begin with." Daigo sighed.

"I'm not surprised." Misora muttered.

"Pororon. I was there, ya know?" Harp reminded her.

"Oh yeah. I'd forgotten."

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah. Subari~ promotes triangles and singles!"

"What's the point of that, anyway?" Daigo sighed.

"Ya never know, Great Gorilla~!"

"SHEESH!" He protested.

"Just get lost for a while. They'll beat your records."

"Wha~t? Ah! The feathered jerks! The lil bros of Cygnus!"

"Lil bros of Cygnus, how brilliant." Harp muttered with rising and obvious annoyance.

"Phew! We shook the guy off somehow. This town is getting maddening again, truly. I prefer having to deal with stubborn Material Waves to that guy, really." Daigo sighed.

"Who wouldn't, Daigo – senpai?"

"You're right, Amachi. Let's get back to work."

"Roger."

"Well. Guess I'm going back to Okudama Studios. Goodbye."

"Goodbye. Take care."

"Pororon! Be friendlier, Acid."

"I'll try." He merely replied.

Misora walked away and stepped into the Wave Liner: her Hunter – VG rang and she didn't seem to be surprised when replying: the screen only showed static.

"Sensei. I know it's you, ma'am."

"Hmpf. Am I that readable?"

"Totally, ma'am. I guess you must be feeling satisfied: we did the job in your stead, ma'am."

"So you had the courage to step into Hell."

"I had. And I'm not going to let that intimidate me."

"Hmpf. So your naïveté is no more."

"Who said I was naïve, anyway? Your points are rather moot, ma'am."

"So it'd seem."

"I'm going to fall for that tune, ma'am. You only began this campaign to drive us to this point where we would the job for you. You'd planned it all ever since the Meteor G crisis… Your cold behavior, exasperating everyone, putting pressure on me… They were all planned!"

"Indeed." She calmly admitted.

"You wanted to test our intelligence and prove yours too along with your patience."

"Hmpf. If you've deduced that much then there's no point to this chat: farewell."

The call got suddenly cut and Misora sighed in relief.

"Phew. At least I got rid of her pressure…!"

"Pororon. I still find it odd Virgo got along with that gal."

"Don't ask me the details. I'd rather not know what goes on sensei's mind to begin with… It's scary."

10:53 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Sigma. What are you doing there?"

"Yikes! S-Sir Omega, sir!"

"Answer me."

"Eh… I was looking for spare light bulbs!"

"… The light bulbs are on Storage 15, not S 07. This is where we keep replacement shoes and sneakers."

"G-guess I got lost… I'm going there and…"

"What are you up to?"

Sigma had been standing in a curved metallic corridor somewhere which had some structural arches and was illuminated by fluorescent lights set in the ceiling: he'd been trying to do something with a control panel next to an armored door on the left side labeled "STORAGE #07" but Omega had shown up from the south while looking both annoyed and suspicious: Sigma gulped and began to step away.

"Huh! I've got to keep an eye in the Black Hole Server… Bye~!"

Sigma ran off and Omega looked like he was getting annoyed: he interacted with the control panel and a burp sound rang out followed by a roar.

"Burp & Roar present… Quiz Queen!"

"What the…?"

"Kyah, hah, hah, hah, hah, hah! Quiz the Queen or the Queen Quiz!" A womanly voice laughed.

"How lame. Sounds like a Virgo imitation."

"Gontaga – sama~! Nanska Village's new ruler!"

"Huff. That episode… Really…"

"Beware! Dossy strikes back with a hellish and rotting breath!"

"Please!"

"Alright! Enough preludes, kiddo! The password! The hint is: who's the Ace of the Moon Tribe~?"

"Not this again." He growled.

"Irony strikes back?" Vadous asked he calmly stepped in.

"Huff. I know my other "self" set up such a password time ago but it's got nothing to do with my current "self", Boss."

"Guess that. Another reason I installed the "switch" into you."

"We need one for that moron too, and for War Rock. Or else…"

"I know. Sigma needs some lessons too."

"Time's up! Enter and smell these sneaky sneakers!"

"How stupid."

The door buzzed and opened to reveal a sheet of paper hanging from the ceiling using a string of tape and which had a badly-drawn Denpa – kun with a scary face drawn on it.

"Mwah, hah, hah. I'm the Terror Denpa~!"

"Huff. War Rock. This reeks of the guy's handiworks too."

"Who else?" Vadous rolled his eyes.

"Let's get rid of this stupidity already."

"Sure."

Omega picked the paper and the tape and made a ball of paper with it while Vadous used his Hunter – VG to apparently re-program the control panel with the correct software.

"Alright. It's fixed."

"About damned time."

"I know. Let's get back to work."

"Yeah. We need to find those 2: they fled the submarine behemoth but maybe it's a temporary diversion maneuver."

"I wouldn't be surprised if it is: they're so random."

"Boss? Mr. Dragon wants to talk with you." Blood Shadow walked up to both of them.

"Dragon? Sheesh. The guy surely ran out of spices or rice. He should take care of keeping an eye on the stocks." Vadous sighed.

He walked down the corridor while Omega closed the armored door and handed Blood Shadow the ball of paper.

"Throw it into the trash incinerator."

"Roger, sir."

"Did anything odd happen at Okudama Studios…?"

"Not really. They found a fan who'd tried to sneak in posing as the nephew of a staff lady." He reported.

"Hum. No big deal, then."

Blood Shadow's ear pads rang so he touched the left one with his left hand's fingers: an Air Display screen formed and Tsukasa showed up onscreen while looking slightly annoyed.

"Blood – kun?"

"What's up, Tsukasa – kun?"

"War Rock somehow hacked the whole NFB Battle Cards from your Folder and dropped them here, in the Dream Island Park… They all have your name on them so…"

"Weird. When did the guy…? Ah! When I was undergoing maintenance in the capsule, here…!"

"Sheesh." Omega grumbled.

"Mwah, hah, hah. The Square of Vile Sins!" War Rock laughed.

"Oh come on." Kiboyama groaned off-screen.

"Mwah, hah, hah. Bloody~ Shadowy~! Join the club! The Evil Vile Veli Eliv Club!"

"How stupid."

"I'm going there to get them back. And then we'll talk, Rock." Blood Shadow fumed.

"Of Mars Aces and Moon Acids!"

"I'm about to go berserk." Omega icily threatened.

"YIKES!"

"He ran." Tsukasa calmly reported.

"That guy…!" Kiboyama growled.

"I know. I'll be going, Sir Omega."

"Go." Omega sighed.

Blood Shadow strode away while Omega walked down another bit of corridor: another door opened and Dr. Lartes came out while sighing and looking tired.

"Lartes? You pushed it again?"

"A bit… Hospital stuff… They suddenly sent several diagnostics to me as if hoping to shake them off… And they're wrong: they don't belong to my department or specialty… Really…!"

"Huff. Someone should pull their ears."

"Sure thing."

"Anyway. This is but a pause. Before the next act…" Omega warned.

"Hum. And let's not forget about our other "front"…"

"True. There's a sneaky mouse there that knows TOO much."

"Indeed. It'd be best to keep them under control or else…!"

10:05 AM (Taiwan Time)…

"… Heh, heh, heh, heh, heh, heh."

"What now, Hyde~?"

"This fortune will make me invincible!"

"What news."

"Huh… What should I do, Hyde – sama?"

"Bah! Just do yoga or whatever. I need to brainstorm."

"_Kuh, kuh, kuh, kuh, kuh_."

"Man. Your laughter is odd, Assassin…"

Hyde was chuckling inside of a living room with obvious Choina – style decoration and sitting on an armchair: Phantom was unimpressed with his cocky mood, Shinobi was saluting close by and Assassin made some hollow chuckling which Shinobi didn't seem to like.

"Those fools can't think we've chosen Taiwan to hide at: and by my sales of "Crimson" I've gained a lot of fortune… My latest client invited us to this humble villa… Heh, heh, heh. I'll soon provide them with some goods they want too…"

"That's excellent, My Master."

"Hyde~… You just happened to be lucky and find some which was still stored in Dealer's Orbital Base…" Phantom sighed.

"Don't rob me of my glory, Phantom!"

"Yeah, yeah. Well. I just happened to warn you."

"Huh… Guess that…" Shinobi looked somewhat hesitating.

"_Kuh, kuh, kuh, kuh_."

"Oh. Be quiet already. Go scare some Denpa."

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah! Soon! I'll be supreme~!"

11:18 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Ah… The air feels good, really…"

"Yeah. Despite it being autumn…"

"Huff. I hope this spot doesn't become a trauma."

"Oh come on! Be positive, Subaru – kun!"

"Yeah! We gotta be optimistic!"

Kiboyama, Tsukasa and Subaru were in the Dream Island Park and standing on the topmost spot of the hill looking at the sunken ship: Kiboyama was spreading his arms and feeling the breeze, Tsukasa looked animated and Subaru was slightly sad.

"Yeah. Guess that."

"So you grew up on this island, Tsukasa – kun?"

"Yeah. There's an orphanage close by, about 20 minutes by foot, on the mainland. But I always came here to enjoy the scenery and to disconnect as well."

"Nice~… I'd loved to know about this place sooner. Say. When I was being "possessed"… You said I was living here in secret?" Kiboyama seemed to remember.

"Yeah. Inside of the basement containing the "Bonds" Communication Module… Guess Kuroban posed as an orphan of the orphanage so as to not to draw much attention…"

"Why don't you show me the place? It's picking me."

"Sure. I haven't been there for a long time either." Tsukasa admitted with a shrug.

"Good. Follow me."

Subaru led them through the garbage plant and the junkyard before they reached the entrance to the huge basement room under the island which had the weathered down remains of the module.

"So this is the place, huh? It must've been cold all year long: with that shaft leading straight into the surface… And when it rained or snowed it'd get wet…" Kiboyama muttered.

"There's a switch to close it off here." Tsukasa signaled a column which had a large lever with a label.

"Oh. I didn't spot it back then. It makes sense. These remains were stored for 3 years here. The reason they were still working when I found them must be that… Amachi – san must've opened the shaft when he repaired it up…" Subaru guessed.

Their Hunter – VGs beeped at the same time so they brought them out and the "Air Displays" activated to show Moon Disaster's face from close up while grinning.

"YO! YO! YO! I'm Moon Ace~! Are ya listening, guys and gals? My ultimate extravaganza is about to begin! Sponsored by Mr. Raibu!" Moon Disaster announced.

"Mr. Raibu?" Tsukasa wondered.

"You lowlife. Staining my pride and name…! My blood's stirring!" Burai growled close by.

"YIKES! When did ya…?"

"I happened to be making my way through when I hear this lowlife insulting my tribe, blood and pride…! That sin…! I'll have it you pay with your flesh! Get ready! Go, Laplace!"

"Da."

"Uwa~h! Run for your Moon Boomerangs! The competency sponsored by Michael Jackson XIII chases me~!"

"Michael Jackson XIII? Reeks of Rock's handiworks: totally." Subaru grumbled.

"Totally. And he had to piss off Burai." Kiboyama sighed.

"He's up for a world of pain."

"What's with this scandal?" Luna asked.

"I don't know." Kizamaro merely replied.

"A new meal?" Gonta asked.

"KI~H! FATMAN!"

"Uwa~h! Spare me, _iinchou_~!"

"No good."

"Man. Not again." Jack grumbled.

"The madness…!" The 3 of them groaned.

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah. The plague of madness, brought forth by Warus Rockus Samus and Sigmus Samus! Get to the shelters, humans and Denpa Bodies!" War Rock laughed.

"Let the Denpa Bodies hit the Cosmo Wave~! Run for the shelter!" Sigma laughed.

"Sigma~…!" Omega icily hissed over the line.

"Jeez. I come back from getting my Cards back and now you two are stirring up trouble again?" Blood Shadow sighed.

"Probabilities of chaos unleashing… 100%." Pedia sighed.

"Buro~! Sheesh." Ox grumbled.

"Oh boy." Mode seemed to roll her eyes even.

"Boss. You've got my permission to shut the guy on the server for a while: he needs another lesson! And Sigma – san too!" Subaru announced aloud while looking annoyed.

"Yeah! I approve of it!"

"I approve of it too!"

"Wha~t? Subari~! Ya can't be serious!"

"Delighted!" Vadous hissed.

"Uh-oh. Let's run, Rock!"

"YIKES!"

"Sheesh."

"Burai, huh? You were looking for me?"

"Yeah. Let's have a showdown next week."

"OK. I'll borrow the solo DH program."

Burai showed up there along with Laplace who remained silent: Subaru wasn't surprised by his appearance there.

"So this is the famed CM…"

"Yeah. This island was a decisive spot during the whole FM invasion back then… A lot happened…"

"Yeah… A lot sure did…" Tsukasa grimly muttered as he looked away, sighing.

"Sorry. I didn't want to bring up sad thoughts."

"No. It's me who should confront them sans fear."

"Fine. I won't get in the way. I'm heading back. And, Hoshikawa… Keep an eye out on your Wizard… Or else there's trouble."

"I know that. Boss is about to lock the guy for another while: he needs it, really." Subaru nodded in agreement.

"Alright."

Burai stepped out while Laplace was gesticulating to Burai who was replying in a hushed tone of voice: Laplace sighed and Burai didn't seem to get in a better mood before he stepped into the elevator and headed back into the surface.

"Well. Hyde and Shinobi might plot all they want but…" Tsukasa began as if to relieve the air.

"They can't overcome our "Bond Power"!" Kiboyama added.

"Good motto." Subaru grinned.

"Hi~! _Darling_."

"Misora – chan… That joke's getting outdated."

"Tee, heh, heh. I know, I know. I got told you were here, Subaru – kun, so I dropped over to check it out."

Misora joined them while giggling and Subaru slightly rolled his eyes as if being tired with the running joke: the other two grinned and looked amused.

"By the way… How about we go visit the newest Roppondo Hills Museum exhibition? This time around it's about sci-fi films so…" Misora suggested to Subaru.

"Wow! Count me in. My "mania soul" has woken up!"

"Mania soul? Sure thing." Tsukasa giggled.

"You could patent it for some RPG."

"Pororon. And this time Rock won't be swallowing up weird stuff which is bad for the stomach!" Harp giggled.

"You needn't remind me. That "consciousness" engraved in the OOPArt was hard to deal with." Subaru recalled with a sigh.

"Well then! Settled. We'll go in 2 weeks' time. Look forward to it: to our newest _date_." She teased.

"B-b-b-b-but!" He uttered in a rush while blushing.

"Kidding. See ya~!"

Misora giggled and ran out while both guys tapped Subaru's back to encourage him: he grinned and looked elsewhere.

_Oh well. A joke's a joke… Our "Bond Power" can't be beaten by mere power or tricks! Hyde! Next time… We'll settle the score!_

**THE END**


End file.
